George Freeman welcomes the Prime Minister’s speech on the future of the UK/EU economic partnership and seeks reassurance that her proposal for associate membership of the European Medicines Agency means that the UK will be able to sell medicines into Europe and continue to lead in the pioneering technologies of tomorrow’s medicines.
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)
May I congratulate my right hon. Friend on a reassuringly and typically business-like speech on Friday? It sent a clear message that there will be no hard Brexit, only hard choices. Will she reassure me and the UK life sciences sector that her proposal for associate membership of the European Medicines Agency means that we will be able to sell medicines into Europe and continue to lead in the pioneering technologies of tomorrow’s medicines?
The Prime Minister
I am very clear about the important role that the life sciences industry plays in the United Kingdom, and I pay tribute to the work that my hon. Friend has done with it here in the United Kingdom. We wish to explore the possibility of some form of associate membership of those agencies. That is in the interests not just of the UK but of people across the EU, in terms of getting medicines to market more quickly.