by political editor Paul Francis

The taskforce charged with rescuing the Pfizer plant in east Kent has been given a month to submit its first proposals.

The group met for the first time today in London and was asked by business secretary Vince Cable to come up with a report in 30 days.

Pfizer announced last week it was quitting the site with the loss of 2,400 jobs.

Mr Cable said: "The taskforce is working quickly and decisively to consider the interesting proposals that have been put forward to deliver solutions for the Sandwich site and ensure minimal impact on the local area and the people who are affected."

Science minister David Willetts, who also attended the meeting, said: "The UK is an attractive location for the life sciences industry.

"The priority must be to ensure that we hold on to the highly skilled workers at Sandwich and ensure the world-class research they conduct there continues."

At the meeting, the taskforce said priorities would be securing as many new jobs as possible; encouraging partnerships between Pfizer, other research organisations and companies that could relocate to the area and what were described as "longer term strategic partnering and site opportunity issues".

Taskforce leader Cllr Paul Carter of KCC said: "It’s been all hands on deck since last week's announcement and the Task Force's main objective will be to find as much high quality employment on site as possible.

"Time is of the time is of the essence and we must continue to explore every realistic opportunity."

Click here to read Paul's thoughts on the Pfizer fiasco on our comment and blogs site