The prime minister’s business adviser, Varun Chandra, flew to Washington this week to discuss tariffs.
In parallel, the U.K. government is locked in talks with companies over NHS drug pricing, with Science Minister Patrick Vallance recently hinting the NHS will need to pay more if Britain wants to stay attractive for investment.
However, Kyle indicated he thinks the sector’s concerns have been overstated, saying: “The pharma companies are very good negotiators. They are hard negotiators, and they know how to use the media and the press to do it.”
“But we are tough negotiators too, and we are in the process of negotiating lots of different arrangements and agreements and investments into pharma.”
Kyle insisted the U.K. continues to “have one of the best life sciences communities in the world,” pointing to a recent £1 billion investment by German medicines giant BioNTech. The government is continuing to look for ways to make it easier to roll out innovative medicines across the U.K.’s health system, he said.
Steel talks continue
Elsewhere, Kyle said London is “not giving up on on moving forward in a whole range of areas,” related to the U.K.’s trade pact with the U.S.