Frost admits Britain needs 'benefits of Brexit to start paying off’

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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has privately warned it has already lost tens of millions of pounds in revenue because of changes resulting from Brexit. A senior official from the body said it is having to adjust to a “new reality” after the disruption to revenue streams since the UK formally completed its departure from the European Union more than a year ago.

Healthcare sector insiders said a senior MHRA official had told industry figures at a recent meeting that various regulatory changes could cost the body between £20-30million, according to PoliticsHome.

Prior to Brexit, the European Health Agency (EHA) had paid the UK medicines regulator a significant sum for its work assessing new drugs for use throughout the EU.

But the senior MHRA official warned as a result of subsequent changes from the UK leaving the EU, the body would now have to adapt to a “new setup”.

The source said while they were “hopeful” of receiving more funds from the Government’s spending review, no final decision has been made.

An MHRA spokesperson did not question the figure around the funding black hole.

But they instead pointed to its annual accounts showing additional funding of £12.8million had been provided by the Department for Health and Social Care to make up for the loss of revenue after Brexit.

The spokesperson said: “We will continue to be a world-class regulator that delivers the right outcomes for patients while we modernise the services we provide to industry and remain financially stable.

“Our transformation will lead to a reshaping and reskilling of our workforce balanced with increases in revenue and additional efficiencies, taking into account the different functions across the Agency, some of which we expect to grow and some to reduce as we shift to our new role as a progressive, pro-innovation regulator.”

The MHRA has been widely praised for the central role it has played in the UK’s response to the Covid pandemic.

Ministers and health experts had praised the body when it was tasked with approving vaccines and other antiviral treatments in the battle against coronavirus.

This led to the UK also being praised by many around the world for being among the top countries with the fastest vaccine rollout programme.

But the body had recognised the loss of income from EU work streams after it was reported at the end of last year that up to 300 staff could be let go amid rising financial pressures.

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The reported job cuts led to fears among doctor groups and unions that the approval of medicines and other treatments could be delayed and put its reputation at risk.

However, the latest funding black hole now places huge pressure on the Prime Minister to quickly start demonstrating the benefits of Brexit, more than a year after the UK formally left the EU.

In February, Mr Johnson appointed Jacob Rees-Mogg as Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency minister, charged with identifying the benefits for Britain from leaving the bloc.

Last month, the former House of Commons Leader said the Government’s “vision” for Brexit is about scrapping “gold-plated” EU regulations.

He told a parliamentary committee the EU had “imposed” regulations on the UK and that it was his job to get rid of them.

Mr Rees-Mogg said: “What is the vision in terms of Brexit opportunities, is that we should have an economy that is more efficient, that we should have the supply-side reforms, that we should get rid of the unnecessary, often gold-plated regulation that the European Union imposed upon us.

“Very often we were outvoted in the council of ministers, we have things that came through by qualified majority voting, or we abstained on things because we knew that we would lose at that stage. It’s about freeing up the economy.”

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