High energy prices make the UK ‘vulnerable’ US ambassador warns
The US ambassador to the UK has warned Britain’s sky-high energy prices threaten to undermine its status as a major global economy.
Speaking at an event at the Savoy Hotel on Wednesday, Warren Stephens described UK energy prices, which are among the highest in the world, as the “chief obstacle” to growth.
“Energy costs in the United Kingdom are too high on which to run an industrialized economy,” Stephens said.
“Every business I meet, in every sector, complains to me that energy costs make the UK an expensive, and difficult, place to do business. It does not take an economic savant to know that is not a good combination.”
“Improving the economy all starts and ends with energy. If there are not major reforms to UK energy policy, then the UK’s position as a premier global economy is vulnerable.”
US President Donald Trump has previously taken aim at Labour’s green energy policy, warning in a UN speech that “The North Sea is so highly taxed that no developer, no oil company can go there.”
Fresh pharma warnings
Stephens, who was appointed to the top job in May, also raised concerns over Britain’s pharmaceutical industry, warning that US companies will “shut down” their sites in the UK if the NHS does not pay more for drugs.
“If there are not changes made and fast, pharma businesses will not only cancel future investments, they will shut down their facilities in the UK. This would be a major blow to a country that prides itself, rightly so, on its life sciences sector,” Stephens said.
It comes as the government is mulling raising the amount the health service in England pays firms for medicines by up to 25 per cent under plans to stave off tariffs threatened by Trump.
The dispute has been linked to recent decisions by US-based Merck and Astrazeneca to pause or scrap UK investment plans.
According to reports last month, officials outlined proposals to the Trump administration that would see the NHS’s pricing threshold raised by a quarter. The US President is said to be seeking greater alignment on global drug prices, which remain significantly higher in America than anywhere else, and has warned of tariffs of up to 100 per cent on pharmaceutical imports if no deal is reached.