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\t\tUS ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens \t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 05 November 2025 8:35 pm\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\t\tUS ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens \t<\/p>\n
The US ambassador to the UK has warned Britain\u2019s sky-high energy prices threaten to undermine its status as a major global economy.<\/p>\n
Speaking at an event at the Savoy Hotel on Wednesday, Warren Stephens described UK energy prices, which are among the highest in the world, as the \u201cchief obstacle\u201d to growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnergy costs in the United Kingdom are too high on which to run an industrialized economy,\u201d Stephens said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery business I meet, in every sector, complains to me that energy costs make the UK an expensive, and difficult, place to do business. It does not take an economic savant to know that is not a good combination.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cImproving the economy all starts and ends with energy.\u00a0 If there are not major reforms to UK energy policy, then the UK\u2019s position as a premier global economy is vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has previously taken aim at Labour\u2019s green energy policy, warning in a UN speech that \u201cThe North Sea is so highly taxed that no developer, no oil company can go there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresh pharma warnings<\/p>\n
Stephens, who was appointed to the top job in May, also raised concerns over Britain\u2019s pharmaceutical industry, warning that US companies will \u201cshut down\u201d their sites in the\u00a0UK if the NHS does not pay more for drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there are not changes made and fast, pharma businesses will not only cancel future investments, they will shut down their facilities in the UK.\u00a0 This would be a major blow to a country that prides itself, rightly so, on its life sciences sector,\u201d Stephens said.<\/p>\n
It comes as the government is mulling raising the amount the health service in England pays firms for medicines by up to 25 per cent under plans to stave off tariffs threatened by Trump.<\/p>\n
The dispute has been linked to recent decisions by US-based Merck and Astrazeneca to pause or scrap UK investment plans.<\/p>\n
According to reports last month, officials outlined proposals to the Trump administration that would see the NHS\u2019s pricing threshold raised by a quarter. The US President is said to be seeking greater alignment on global drug prices, which remain significantly higher in America than anywhere else, and has warned of tariffs of up to 100 per cent on pharmaceutical imports if no deal is reached.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n