A PEER and former MP has urged the government to consider expelling the chief executive of Glaxo SmithKline from a special council designed to aid recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lord Walney said Barrow-born Dame Emma Walmsley was ‘damaging’ the country after GSK announced it planned to wind up its Ulverston operation in four years’ time.

The move, which would leave around 130 members of staff facing redundancy, followed the $350m sale of one of GSK’s divisions to pharmaceuticals company Sandoz.

Lord Walney said that, if Dame Emma ‘won’t pull back from the brink and address the harm that GSK is doing to Ulverston and other communities’, then Boris Johnson should ask her to stand down from the Build Back Better Council.

The council has brought together business leaders from across Britain in an effort to boost recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the House of Lords yesterday, Lord Walney, who founded the GSK Ulverston taskforce when he was Barrow and Furness MP, said Dame Emma was harming the nation in areas such as industry and sustainable communities.

He described GSK as ‘abandoning’ its manufacturing base in Ulverston and called on the Government to revoke Dame Emma’s position on the council.

Responding on behalf of the Government, Baroness Penn said: “Whilst I have sympathy for the reasons the noble lord may have asked that question, the Government does not intend to change the membership of the business council.

“It runs for 12 months and we welcome the contributions of all members.”

Speaking to The Mail, Lord Walney said: “The head of GSK is damaging her country and the Furness community where she grew up at the very moment we need everyone to show leadership to build our medicines manufacturing base in the face of the pandemic.

“I would expect better from the CEO of any major British firm, but Dame Emma Walmsley’s insult is made even worse given she was personally asked by the prime minister to help get UK communities thriving by serving on his Build Back Better Council of business leaders.”

A spokesman for GSK said: “Our announcement to sell our cephalosporins business is the start of a process that we expect to last four years.

“There is no immediate change for our employees in Ulverston as the site continues to be GSK-operated for some years.

“GSK has a long history of community support in Ulverston and we have committed to provide further support to the community.”