Ministry of Defence

Allison Gardner Excerpts

Wednesday 4th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

Within the allocations of defence spending and investment, and in light of current geopolitical volatility, I am sure that the Government will be looking to secure a strategic, robust and sovereign defence supply chain. In north Staffordshire, our advanced ceramics industry is a key creator of the unique advanced ceramic materials that are required for our fighting capability, including armour materials, ultra-high speed munitions, and protection and security for our defence communications. I have spoken previously to the Minister about the strategic importance of north Staffordshire in creating an advanced manufacturing cluster.

An example of such a business in my Stoke-on-Trent South constituency is Mantec, a technical ceramics company that produces ceramic molten metal filters that remove impurities from molten turbine blades used for civil aviation and defence. Investment in that technology is cost-saving because it is said that using those materials creates a £1 million fuel saving per year, which is £40 million over the lifecycle of a plane, so short-term investment now can lead to long-term savings.

I must emphasise the strategic importance of securing sovereign capability in advanced defence materials, particularly ceramic matrix composites. To quote the National Composites Centre,

“the future of British defence will depend on sovereign access to ceramic matrix composites”.

To bolster national security, strengthen our industrial expertise and position the UK as a leader in advanced defence technologies, we must invest in our sovereign CMC and fibre manufacturing capacity.

When I recently met the UK Atomic Energy Authority, it highlighted—again with great frustration—the importance of having this sovereign capability to manufacture CMCs and fibres. The manufacturing currently happens in a few factories overseas, including in a Rolls-Royce factory in America, which produces the CMCs we need for our defence and civil aviation. Fibre manufacturing also takes place in only a few factories globally, including in Japan and Germany. It is crazy that we actually hold much of the intellectual property, and we have the skilled workers and technology, yet we are dependent on those overseas supply chains. In a volatile world, that is increasingly putting our sovereign capability for defence manufacturing at risk.

As the Minister will know, I have met Lucideon, which is based in the constituency of the right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson). It is working very hard, in a wide partnership, to create a sovereign CMC manufacturing facility in north Staffordshire, hopefully based near the Applied Materials Research, Innovation and Commercialisation Company at Keele University. I once again ask the Minister whether he will meet me to see how we can move that forward and understand the vital strategic importance of north Staffordshire’s advanced ceramics capability to our country and our defence.