Despite Brexit and Coronavirus, the positive inward investment news keeps coming for the UK. Today Guido learns that one of Belgium’s premier pharmaceutical companies has announced a £1 billion investment into new UK facilities over the next five years. Especially ironic given they have a Brussels HQ and members of the Belgian establishment as major stakeholders and board members…

Business and Industry Minister Nadhim Zahawi tells Guido “UCB’s investment demonstrates the huge opportunity for companies investing in UK science and research with government support, cementing the UK’s status as a global science superpower.” Health Minister Lord Bethell said: “This investment is a major vote of confidence in our incredible life sciences sector and is further proof the UK continues to lead the way in ground-breaking medical research.” They’re basically cock-a-hoop that Brexit Britain has pinched one of Belgium’s blue-chip pharma investments…

An industry insider tells Guido the firm, ‘UCB’, embarked on a downsizing initiative in which they attempted to shut down their UK operations entirely and shift everything to Belgium, only for the highly-skilled workforce to refuse to move. In the end they gave up, and so the pharmacologists have announced £1 billion of new investment on a 47-acre British campus. A bitter pill for remainers to swallow…