GlaxoSmithKline confirmed plans on Thursday to invest more than 500 million pounds in manufacturing in Britain and said it had selected Ulverston, northern England, as the site for a previously announced biotech plant.

GSK had already said it aimed to ramp up investment and bring more jobs to Britain in response to government plans to reduce the level of corporation tax applied to income from patents - a move known as a patent box.

The confirmation of the investment strategy comes the day after finance minister George Osborne's budget in which he laid out business-friendly tax plans, including reiterating the introduction of the patent box.