As the son of first-generation immigrants, I am a personal beneficiary of this country’s capacity to transform lives.
I saw that transformation built on the back of British science as a transplant surgeon, where it helped me change the lives of my patients. In marrying clinical practice with parliamentary and recent ministerial duty, I have felt that same urgency to contribute to fixing this country’s most pressing challenges.
There is no greater privilege than serving in government. Doing so in a brief where I had significant subject matter expertise as an NHS surgeon was a singular honour and responsibility. It was, therefore, particularly difficult when I concluded that despite the progress I was making as health innovation minister, something had to be done to reverse the broader lack of urgency and focus in the wake of the results in the local and regional elections.
As Keir Starmer prepares to leave office, I am thankful for his dedication in turning around our party and starting the work of renewing our country. In doing so he funded the NHS, challenging us to prioritise research and clinical trials and to make the life sciences economy a major pillar of our industrial strategy.
Now, I believe the next phase of a Labour government needs a direct and intensive focus to challenge the pessimism of the twin threats of nationalism and incrementalism. Social cohesion, pride in place and economic growth are now inextricably linked. A fresh Labour government under new leadership can and must deliver on the promise of economic growth touching every community.
The life sciences sector offers huge potential to deliver on this promise and we must recognise our National Health Service as the UK’s crown jewel if we are to fulfil this potential.
Since the inception of the NHS, those working in our GP surgeries, hospitals and community clinics have worked intensively not only to care for patients, but through a willingness to envisage and strive towards what lies around the corner in medicine and healthcare. This led to developments in our science and research capabilities – particularly in the North – that gave us the first IVF baby in Oldham, statin trials that prevented heart attacks in Glasgow and world-first whole genome testing for rare diseases in Newcastle. That treasure trove of clinical experience and longitudinal data serving a whole population means, in an era of AI, genomics and biotechnology, the NHS is in pole position to be fired up as an engine of economic growth for our life sciences sector.
But to do this we must overcome the orthodoxy of what the NHS is and understand more deeply the talents that sit within it, up and down the country. In the case of our life sciences sector this means understanding that while we punch above our weight on the global stage, being the third largest life sciences economy, we only do so because of the NHS. The NHS will also be an essential factor in our ability to continue to grow further and faster.
Despite this, we continue to think too narrowly about a sector which will define the next several decades of economic growth. Life sciences and biotechnology must be viewed with the same optimism and sense of purpose as the green transition. It is also a space where we can take big bets on AI. The sector is therefore ripe to be a central pillar of Britain’s reindustrialisation. The life sciences industry already contributes £34bn in GVA and £147bn in turnover within the UK, employing over 300,000 people.
Yet its growth potential is still to be realised. With the right investment in the right places, and releasing our NHS from its business as usual consumptive model, we could create 85,000 new jobs and add £16.3bn in GDP – achieving equitable economic growth in parts of the country previously overlooked.
We also cannot allow the conversation around “good jobs” to stop at construction or care. Pathways into both highly skilled scientific, technical and entry-level manufacturing careers and apprenticeships must be provided for young people. We can do this by setting a clear target for job creation in the sector.
We are already seeing examples of this growth emerging in the Northern Health Science Alliance. The North itself has inherent advantages with great research institutions and universities. With the right investment, and the inclusion of Scotland into the Alliance, we can achieve place-based economic revitalisation. It provides an opportunity to build on regional anchor institutions like hospitals, universities and biotech manufacturers to drive wealth creation that brings local dividends of scientific discovery.
Biotechnology itself represents a major growth opportunity. The UK already has a genuine comparative advantage in genomics, AI-enabled drug discovery, precision medicine and data-driven healthcare but other countries are moving quickly and at scale. We must match that ambition and work harder and invest greater to keep our biotechnology companies in Britain.
We are seeing signs of this already. The relocation of UK Biobank to Manchester will drive job creation throughout the north-west. But we can do more. Why can’t the next generation of anti-obesity drugs be manufactured in the UK? With the right support and encouragement, world-leading British drug companies can do exactly that – expanding their footprint in the North, rather than setting up shop abroad.
The UK Life Sciences Council also understands this, convening their next council in Billingham at the Japanese Fujifilm biotech site – which I was privileged enough to open alongside the Duke of Edinburgh. This is the moment to take the practical steps to intertwine our life sciences ambitions and NHS plans like never before in Whitehall.
This approach will mean changing how we view national infrastructure. In the twentieth century, infrastructure meant roads, railways, power stations and hospitals. It now should mean data, research capability, scientific computing power and the institutions that support health innovation.
The NHS possesses one of the richest health data environments anywhere in the world. While being clear that we will not compromise on our ownership of said data – used responsibly, securely and ethically, that capability could transform medical research, accelerate treatment development and give the UK a real competitive edge in the race to become a life sciences super power.
As the great achievement of post-war modern Britain, it would be a disservice to Bevan and his peers for the NHS of 2048 to be the same as the NHS of 1948. Along with being more preventative it can be more personalised and more integrated with advances in life sciences research and technology. Advances that Britain owns and showcases to the world- just as with the NHS of 1948.
It is also no accident that this great British success story of the NHS and life science academia, is underpinned by one of the most diverse workforces of any organisation in the country. It is precisely its diversity of perspective – and patient population – that makes it the uniquely valuable asset that it is.
There are real reasons for optimism, but optimism alone cannot overcome our challenges. We need policy ambition, as well as deep and authentic cross-Whitehall focus and the political oversight of delivery at pace.
We are in an arms race, we must seize this opportunity to move beyond an overreliance on the Oxford–Cambridge–London corridor and build a model of growth that draws equally on the strengths, talents and ambitions of Scotland, the North of England, and every part of our United Kingdom. The new train station in Cambridge South feeding that corridor, can in the new model of an integrated NHS and life sciences ecosystem, be as much a destination as it can the start of a new journey north stopping off in Macclesfield, Manchester and beyond.
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