Browse content similar to 14/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The great AstraZeneca row in Cambridge, and why it matters | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
For West Suffolk we have 36 companies with a workforce of 3,000. | :00:09. | :00:16. | |
So for a small place like Suffolk you can see it's very important. | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
Hello and welcome to Look East, with Susie and me. | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
The strongest hint yet that improvements are | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
Summer is just around the corner, and tourism bosses here are | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
Growers here take inspiration from the Western Front to mark | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
The controversial attempted takeover of the drugs company AstraZeneca was | :00:41. | :00:58. | |
back in the national spotlight today, | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
with what happens in Cambridge at the heart of the argument. | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
If the deal goes through, the repercussions could be felt | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
The head of AstraZeneca told MPs that one of the reasons | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
for rejecting a takeover bid from the American giant Pfizer is | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
Cambridge is the focus of the company's long`term | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
But there's a ripple effect that stretches far beyond the city. | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
Some 13,000 jobs in the region depend on the biotec | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
There are more than 700 separate companies, including many | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, as Richard Daniel reports. | :01:36. | :01:44. | |
This place in Newmarket supplies specialist | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
products for life scientists working in the laboratory. | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
AstraZeneca is a big customer and so is Pfizer. | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
When it shut a research and development centre two years | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
There are many companies doing similar business in the area. | :01:58. | :02:11. | |
It's essential for research to continue | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
Unless you're a scientist who receives our products, | :02:15. | :02:23. | |
you would be unaware of the volume being shipped in all the time. | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
And that's increasingly important for a region | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
which traditionally relied on things such as agriculture. | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
For West Suffolk we have companies with a workforce of 3,000. | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
We will all benefit from that type of business. | :02:42. | :02:50. | |
So a lot hangs on the proposed takeover. | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
It said today it was impressed by research work in Cambridge. | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
It also admitted, under a merger, there would be job cuts. | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
We will put the best of minds together. | :03:04. | :03:11. | |
AstraZeneca is building a ?300 million research campaign and it | :03:12. | :03:34. | |
said it was committed to the city. We are not going to spend all this | :03:35. | :03:43. | |
money and then reduce the headcount. Back there, they are watching | :03:44. | :03:45. | |
developments closely. So what can we learn | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
from previous mega mergers? 13 years ago, | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
the pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Wellcome and Smith Kline | :03:53. | :03:53. | |
Beecham joined forces to become the But after just a few years, | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
one major site was closed. This from our business | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
correspondent Richard Bond. The east of England is home to what | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
is arguably Europe's most important It boasts more than 250 companies, | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
100 medical firms It's all within a bio`tech, | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
golden triangle, between London, The jewel in the crown would be | :04:19. | :04:27. | |
the new AstraZeneca research and development centre in Cambridge, | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
due to open in 2016. But there's an equally | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
important jewel in Stevenage. It has the job of developing | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
the drugs pipeline of Britain's But behind it is a story | :04:41. | :04:50. | |
which illustrates the perils of 13 years ago, Glaxo merged | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
with SmithKline Beecham. Glaxo had a major research centre | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
in Harlow but after a few years the largest part was closed, | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
with the loss of 380 jobs. It shows how difficult it is, | :05:07. | :05:13. | |
even with a national merger. It's difficult to make | :05:14. | :05:23. | |
commitments in advance. If circumstances call for job cuts, | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
it's often Has Harlow's science | :05:28. | :05:35. | |
base recovered since? Nobody's replaced GSK, | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
but as one of the enterprises, we're trying hard to entice | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
companies to relocate here. We're hoping they'll | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
eventually be replaced. Harlow still bears the scars | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
of a drugs merger. This flagship building | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
remains empty. As Pfizer's battle for AstraZeneca | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
hots up, Cambridge will be hoping to The MP for Mid`Norfolk, George | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
Freeman, is also the government's Earlier today he told me why he | :06:07. | :06:16. | |
believes what happens with AstraZeneca is important to | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
the whole region. Our region is becoming | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
a global centre of 21st century That's great news for us all, | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
not just Cambridge. Once we dual the A11 and get the | :06:30. | :06:37. | |
Cambridge`Norwich railway going, link up to the Norwich Research | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
Park, there is a huge opportunity It's devices, diagnostics, | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
manufacturing... Drawing | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
on our old manufacturing heritage. The issue here is that these | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
companies in the pharmacy sector It's a commercial | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
negotiation between them. I think the issue for us in | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
government and parliament is whether Pfizer are going to be committing to | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
this region, and research in the UK? If they are, I think we can be quite | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
relaxed about who owns the company. AstraZeneca itself is already | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
a global, multi`national business. The issue is their commitment to | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
the UK. What they're buying, actually, | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
is the skill of the people here. These worries that they may take | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
jobs from Cambridge, Pfizer does have a track record | :07:33. | :07:35. | |
in a number of the acquisitions of closing down and making a lot | :07:36. | :07:42. | |
of savings. The Prime Minister is stressing | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
that ministers want reassurance. That Pfizer are buying AstraZeneca | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
for the right reasons. They're buying because | :07:53. | :07:55. | |
of their commitment to this new model of 21st century medicine | :07:56. | :07:58. | |
design ` embedding in the hospitals, AstraZeneca?s announcement last year | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
electrified the global pharmaceutical sector | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
and other companies are likely to Provided Pfizer are committed, | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
I've been suggesting we ought to sit down with them and flesh out a five | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
to ten year research agreement. Let's think | :08:18. | :08:20. | |
about how we can help them. If they're investing | :08:21. | :08:23. | |
for our patients, that's good. If they're proposing to close | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
and move out, that's not. Our political correspondent | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
Andrew Sinclair is What's at stake here | :08:32. | :08:39. | |
for the region as a whole? This is more than just a story about | :08:40. | :08:55. | |
Cambridge. The whole success of British economic policy is based on | :08:56. | :08:57. | |
the success of the so`called knowledge economy. We will never be | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
able to compete with the likes of China or India. But we are good at | :09:04. | :09:11. | |
science and innovation. The last Labour government policy has been | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
trying to do as much as possible to encourage innovation and this | :09:17. | :09:27. | |
region. If some of the AstraZeneca work starts to go overseas and other | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
companies might decide to do the same. That would be bad not just for | :09:31. | :09:38. | |
the country but for the region. It was mentioned the up the possibility | :09:39. | :09:46. | |
of a deal... How realistic is that? That has been a lot of talk. It has | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
not got anywhere. This is in its early stages. We cannot give | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
guarantees. No commercial farm with shareholders will want to mock | :09:58. | :10:00. | |
itself into a long`term deal with the government. Thank you. | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
Detectives in Great Yarmouth have until 8pm tonight to interview three | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
teenagers who were arrested after a murder in Hemsby at the weekend. | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
20`year`old Connor Barrett was stabbed to death at | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
Today, the police said there had been an "encouraging" | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
A college in Norfolk has been accused of running a "postcode | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
lottery" to attract students from outside its catchment area. | :10:27. | :10:28. | |
Paston Sixth Form College in North Walsham has been offering subsidies | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
for bus travel worth hundreds of pounds to students who live further | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
away, while students who live closer to the college miss out. | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
17`year`old Yasmin, studying drama and theatre | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
at college, is about to leave home in the village of Gimingham. | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
The family can't afford the county's ?463 annual bus pass, | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
so they choose to pay ?2.80 a day for the eight mile return journey. | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
They're unhappy some students from places | :10:57. | :10:58. | |
like Sheringham have been having all of their travel costs met. | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
Local people should have the same as everybody else. | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
If they're funding transport for some people, they should be | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
We've got to pay that money where other people don't. | :11:09. | :11:18. | |
We're the same people, going to the same college. | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
It shouldn't matter where we're from, and it's really unfair | :11:24. | :11:25. | |
for people in the younger years, having to stay on for college. | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
18`year`old Chloe, also studying drama, lives nearby | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
and has to travel by train to North Walsham because there are no buses. | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
I pay ?4.40 for a return ticket every morning. | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
If we're at college for 40 weeks a year, that's ?1,000 for the year. | :11:47. | :11:55. | |
Norfolk County Council says it has no direct control over what | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
The college says a small number of students received a complete | :12:02. | :12:14. | |
subsidy for bus travel, and others with more difficult journeys | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
It says it's anxious to help students willing to travel | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
But the issue has been reviewed and a new policy will be introduced | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
A five day weather forecast to make you smile. | :12:27. | :12:45. | |
Plus a war`time floral tribute, inspired by the fields of Flanders. | :12:46. | :12:55. | |
The government has dropped its strongest hint yet that it is | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
taking steps towards upgrading one of the region's busiest roads. | :12:59. | :13:01. | |
Campaigners welcomed comments at a Parliamentary debate, | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
which could pave the way for dualling of the A47. | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
The road runs from Great Yarmouth through Norfolk and Cambridgeshire | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
to Peterborough and the Midlands, but less than half is dual | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
Today, local MPs raised the state of the road in Parliament and said | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
unless it is improved drivers and businesses will continue to | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
If ministers had an open cheque`book, perhaps the entire | :13:24. | :13:44. | |
stretch of the A47 would be drilled. Realistically, it is not going to | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
happen. That said, the government did these local MPs and said that if | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
you come back in the autumn I made sure you something that will make | :13:57. | :13:57. | |
you smile. For Dennis, an upgrade to the A47 | :13:58. | :13:59. | |
can't come soon enough. It would save us a good 30, | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
45 minutes just to get to the A1. His boss runs 23 lorries | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
from his base near King's Lynn. A dual carriageway would improve | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
fuel economy On single carriageway, | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
our trucks stick to 40mph, It would improve times | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
and efficiency. An all too familiar sight, | :14:20. | :14:28. | |
the sheer weight And so today, local MPs queued up | :14:29. | :14:30. | |
like cars to echo what local An upgrade to this | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
over`crowded road. I suggest that he does make sure he | :14:37. | :14:42. | |
gets it in place for the We will have completed stage two | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
by the end of July and will be ready to make announcements by the end | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
of the Autumn Statement. Campaigners say | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
the improvements would, within 20 years, generate 10,000 new | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
jobs and increase economic output From an economic perspective | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
that really is quite expensive. The best we can hope | :15:09. | :15:21. | |
for is a section between King's Lynn And perhaps reassure | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
safety campaigners. In Norfolk alone last month, | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
there was one death and five You do get instances, approaching | :15:32. | :15:34. | |
the end of the dual carriageway, When it goes to single, | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
there can be collisions. It's ended up with | :15:42. | :15:51. | |
fatal consequences. The chancellor outlined in the | :15:52. | :16:04. | |
Autumn Statement how much he would pay towards the day of the road. It | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
will come just six months before a general election. The money is not | :16:12. | :16:12. | |
on the table yet. A week tomorrow, people | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
from all over Europe will be casting Those MEPs will represent half | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
a billion people. In our region, | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
the electorate will include thousands of migrant workers, | :16:27. | :16:28. | |
living and paying their way here. vote in the regional poll, | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
or cast their vote at home. Today, we spoke to members of | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
the Polish community in Peterborough Joanna has been here | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
for seven years. Britain has given her | :16:40. | :16:50. | |
opportunities Poland never could. One reason why | :16:51. | :16:57. | |
our Euro MPs will get her vote. I think I will vote for the British | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
list. I've lived here for so many years | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
and local matters are more important All EU citizens have the right to | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
vote, either in the country they came from, or where they live now, | :17:12. | :17:18. | |
making potentially rich pickings Figures show that | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
across Peterborough more than 125,000 people can vote | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
in the European elections. More than 10,000 have moved here | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
from another European country. But half of those said that rather | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
than vote in their own country, they At Peterborough's Polish | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
ex`servicemen's club, a veteran who settled here after | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
the Second World War says it's vital Isn't it better to achieve | :17:49. | :17:51. | |
the goal of unity? Instead of on the end of a bomb, | :17:52. | :18:06. | |
or by killing people? But as the election draws closer, | :18:07. | :18:15. | |
some of the anti`European rhetoric I can't imagine someone would ask me | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
to leave the country I can't imagine I could be sent back | :18:19. | :18:31. | |
to Poland because I couldn't find myself | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
in the country I used to live! A snapshot of the region's tourism | :18:39. | :18:47. | |
industry has revealed the highest The latest quarterly report covering | :18:48. | :18:50. | |
Suffolk and Norfolk shows that firms are reporting more visits to | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
the region, compared to And bookings for the early summer | :18:56. | :18:57. | |
are already well up on last year. And all of that means growing | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
confidence in an industry, which pumps about ?7 billion into the | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
economy of this region every year. If you're looking | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
for reasons why this region is such a target for tourism, | :19:12. | :19:18. | |
look no further than Lavenham in Suffolk ` recently ranked in the | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
top 20 places in the UK to visit. This is Shilling Grange ` | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
where 'Twinkle, Twinkle, The owner has just started a new B | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
here with his wife. All of our guests come here | :19:31. | :19:42. | |
and spend money, If you keep the village alive, | :19:43. | :19:44. | |
more people come back. It's a ball that's rolling all | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
the time. 70 miles away on the coast, | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
the holiday giant Warner Leisure Hotels has invested heavily | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
in this complex for the over 50s. A large percentage come back for a | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
second time so we know they like it. Last year we invested ?2.6 | :20:05. | :20:11. | |
million and we want to invest The feel good factor isn't | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
restricted to just a few. The industry is seeing | :20:16. | :20:23. | |
an improvement in positivity. An increase in customer numbers | :20:24. | :20:36. | |
and spend. Tourism is worth over ?7 | :20:37. | :20:44. | |
billion to East Anglia. In cycling, the spectacle of | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
the women's tour gave this region publicity and the BBC programme | :20:50. | :20:57. | |
Spring Watch should do the same. There is momentum, but to sustain | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
it, we need more investment Think of the First World War and one | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
symbol springs to mind ` the poppy. A wild flower, | :21:09. | :21:22. | |
it grew in Flanders amidst Now a nursery in Norfolk has used | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
those same wild flowers to help the people of Guernsey mark | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
the centenary of the war. They have sent hundreds | :21:31. | :21:33. | |
of plants to the Channel Islands for a special display called | :21:34. | :21:36. | |
the Flowers of Flanders. Linda is passionate | :21:37. | :21:43. | |
about wild flowers. Her company grows two | :21:44. | :21:45. | |
million every year. She was given a brief ` | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
go to Flanders, find the wild flowers of the trenches, grow them | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
and then send them to Guernsey for We've got daisies | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
which are flowering all over We also had others flowering | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
everywhere, and the poppy. Linda's flowers have found a home | :22:04. | :22:16. | |
in St Peter Port, The display was unveiled at the | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
weekend by the island's governor, in memory of the 2,000 Guernseymen | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
who fought on the Western Front. There are buttercups, daisies, | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
thrift and many more. One of the plants we took, | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
Heartsease, Its name suggests it was | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
meant to heal a broken heart. They would have it in posies | :22:41. | :22:49. | |
and grow it in the gardens. Lots of broken hearts | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
during the wars! Numbers | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
of wild flowers are declining. Linda wants her passion to | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
be shared by everyone. You need the plants to have | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
the insects and the birds. It's important that they do know, | :23:06. | :23:12. | |
otherwise they'll grow up Linda's Guernsey displays aren't | :23:13. | :23:14. | |
at their best just yet, A colourful reminder | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
of the flowers of Flanders. This is a beautiful scene. Thank you | :23:22. | :23:53. | |
for the photograph. It was a chilly start to the day. There was a swing | :23:54. | :24:07. | |
in temperatures. 18 Celsius. It is going to continue to warm up during | :24:08. | :24:16. | |
the week. At some point this week, five Freddy, it will look like some | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
places will record highs of 23 Celsius. The cloud should milk away. | :24:21. | :24:30. | |
Some chilly temperatures and poisons. Down to 67 Celsius. The | :24:31. | :24:39. | |
temperatures are not expected to go quite as more as last night. It is | :24:40. | :24:48. | |
looking like a warm and bright day. There will be a bit more close | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
around, but enjoy the sunshine in the morning. The cloud will tend to | :24:53. | :25:02. | |
build`up. When we get the sunshine in the morning it will make things | :25:03. | :25:11. | |
warm up quickly. 17 or 18 degrees. In the afternoon at staying dry and | :25:12. | :25:18. | |
warm. It will be a cloudy. Towards the end of the week there is high | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
pressure. It might something is a little cloudy. But it should not | :25:26. | :25:33. | |
spoil the weekend. Before then, someone temperatures. A bit of close | :25:34. | :25:41. | |
building on the afternoon on Saturday. It should be later in the | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
day. Increasing amounts of cloud for Sunday but 31. That sounds lovely. | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
See you tomorrow. Europe. A community of nations | :25:54. | :26:22. | |
which can do no wrong. A perfect brotherhood | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
in which we all share. the benefits are obvious to | :26:28. | :26:30. | |
being in... Hampering a British recovery | :26:31. | :26:35. | |
and harping on about climate change. It's time to get out, | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
it's time to get... It's almost 20 years | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
since we won Eurovision, | :26:47. | :26:50. |