“The NHSA welcomes the appointment of Michael Gove as the new Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

There is a huge opportunity to grow the North of England’s capabilities in life sciences for the health and wealth of the country. To do this Mr Gove must break the cycle of underinvestment in R&D in the North to allow it to reach its full potential and make the UK a global scientific superpower.

The North is missing out on billions in R&D funding every year due to a lack of investment, but we have excellent opportunities for growth and job creation in a wide variety of Life Sciences fields across the North. What’s missing is sustainable investment so we can build back better, level up and make the UK a global scientific superpower.

The ambitious mission in the Levelling Up White Paper, to improve healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035 is important as we know the North suffers the worst health inequalities in the country. It’s vital we work to improve the healthy life chances of people in the North of England. Through a long-term improvement in the economy of the North and by extension, the wider determinants of health, we can improve life chances and address the unfairness and injustice experienced by too many people for far too long.”

Dr Séamus O’Neill, Chief Executive of the Northern Health Science Alliance.