Conservative peer Lord Heseltine has said the government should have greater powers to intervene when British companies are the target of takeover bids by foreign businesses.
The former deputy prime minister told the BBC takeovers “could be very helpful”, but the UK should do more to protect its national interests.
This week, American drugs giant Pfizer announced it was bidding for British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
The firm has 6,700 employees in the UK.
If successful, the deal would be the biggest ever takeover of a UK business by a foreign company.
Lord Heseltine, who is an adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron on economic growth, told the BBC’s business editor Kamal Ahmed that ministers should have “reserve powers” to protect British companies when crucial interests, such as the country’s science base, were at risk.
“Foreign takeovers can often be hugely helpful and I have no doctrinal preoccupations – I’ve done enough takeovers of small businesses myself to know how valuable they can be,” he said.
“But the important point is that every other advanced economy has mechanisms of some sort on a failsafe basis to scrutinise foreign takeovers and we’re the only country that doesn’t.”