Can the government’s Brexit plans kill off British life sciences?

Damon Culbert from the Immigration Advice Service scrutinises the government's plans for Brexit, and its potential effect on the life sciences sector.

The Confederation of British Industry’s latest report on Brexit claims: ‘science is borderless’. The government cannot, however, assure anybody about anything else in the country’s future.

In the British life sciences industry, EU membership has brought many great things, so what do we have to lose if Brexit brings everything crashing down around us?

Skills shortage

European workers fill positions at every skill level in life sciences. These include low-paid, non-graduate lab workers to lecturers and neurophysiologists. Yet, there are still talent shortages which even the current immigration system cannot fulfil. For non-EU migrants looking to work in British life sciences, there are many positions which are listed on the government’s Shortage Occupation List. Roles on this list include prosthetists, cardiac physiologists and diagnostic radiographers.

Applicants for Tier 2 Work Visas for roles on this list enjoy less restrictions on their visa applications and even cheaper application fees. Even with full access to the European talent pool – and in spite of the fact that the Tier 2 Visa system is often full to bursting, with the cap on visas granted being met every month except one this year – candidates are still few and far between. Should the government choose to extend the same Tier 2 system, with its limited yearly cap of 20,700, we could see rising shortages across the sector.

For lower-skilled workers, the extension of the Tier 2 system is not good news. Any workers without a degree who earn less than £30,000 will not qualify under the current rules. While this affects lab workers, it also affects factory workers who package and delivery technology and medicines. The Migration Advisory Committee also recently released its report on Brexit which asserted that there would be no need to devise an entry route for lower skilled workers after Brexit. This came as welcome news to the government but will come as a serious blow to many industry professionals who know all too well the enormous contribution EU citizens make on our economy.

Dover troubles

Earlier this year, the government began releasing its plans for a no-deal Brexit. Among these was a provision to continue accepting EU goods with no further checks at the border until a more concrete, workable policy can be put into place. Should this happen, the government hopes that trade immediately after Brexit day should work just fine. However, if all does not go to plan, or there is no mutual acceptance by the EU that this will go both ways, many of our day-to-day operations could come to a pronounced halt along the south coast. With no deal, UK driving licences will no longer be recognised on the continent and our goods may no longer be waved in as we intend them to. For urgent shipments of medicine or medical technology, this could come at the cost of people’s health.

In addition, the future relationship will need to be agreed sooner rather than later, or the regulatory alignments between us and the bloc will soon begin to slip. As can be seen in the introduction of both MDR and IVDR which are set to come into play soon, the regulation of European medtech could quickly move far away from our own regulations. This could lead to more border complications as complex new agreements will need to be put in place before trade can be undertaken, negatively affecting our economy and the state of our healthcare innovations.

With the government’s official Brexit position seemingly in tatters, a no-deal Brexit seems all the more plausible. The life sciences industry could stand to lose greatly from exiting the wider European science community. For an industry dependent on information sharing, this would be a casualty that we could feel the effects of throughout our daily lives. The government will need to come up with a new plan which ensures that life sciences will be able to function as it is so that it can continue to advance.