North Staffordshire Ceramics Industry: Energy Costs

Debate between David Williams and Jim Shannon

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered energy cost support for the ceramics industry in North Staffordshire.

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John, and I am grateful that this topic has been selected for debate today. I am also delighted to be joined by my fellow Stoke MP, my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell), and I thank all other hon. Members in attendance today. This is a city-wide and a nationwide debate, and it is critical that we speak with one voice on the issues, to support the industry as much as we can.

Now is the time to act. It was only last month that Royal Stafford, a ceramics firm in my constituency, went into liquidation after nearly 200 years of making fine pottery. That was a devastating blow for our local economy; more than 80 people lost their jobs, and it highlights the real urgency of today’s debate. What happened at Royal Stafford should not have happened, and it should not have happened to all other companies over the years. We must fight for our pots.

I would like to place on record my thanks to Colin, Sam and the wider GMB union for stepping up to support want to pay tribute to the ceramics companies that operate in my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent North—Moorcroft, Burleigh, Steelite, Moorland and Churchill, to name only a few—and I thank Rob Flello and Ceramics UK, who have campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the sector.

The ceramics industry is integral to our story as a city—hence our “Potteries” name—and today, in our centenary year, it still employs more than 3,000 people, exporting our fine products all around the world. We cannot afford to lose those jobs, nor the skills of our workforce. Already, in Stoke-on-Trent, disposable household income sits some £5,000 behind the UK average, according to the latest Office for National Statistics data. Over the years we have lost our pits, and we cannot afford to lose any more of our pots. Our ceramics companies must remain a focus of economic growth and industry for our city.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this debate forward. He is absolutely right to highlight the issue of the ceramics industry. Similarly, in Northern Ireland, we have Larne, Belfast and Londonderry, which also have a very rich history in ceramics. In terms of education—to help the hon. Gentleman if I can—Ulster University in Belfast has helped to develop new advancements in the ceramics field. There is much more that can be done. There is a future for ceramics—that is the point I am trying to make. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that more could be done in education to encourage more young people into the field, if there was a vision—and an opportunity—for the future?

[David Williams]

I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for attending my first Westminster Hall debate. As always, he raises some important points. I remember the old days of Stoke, when we actually had bottle kilns attached to our local schools, giving people their first opportunities to learn a skill. Sadly, those have all gone, but the point about getting people interested in the sector and learning skills is a valid one.

I am delighted that last year Stoke-on-Trent was awarded world craft city status for our ceramics heritage. Many people will be familiar with our household names in tableware. I have spoken before about our “turnover club”, where people pick up the plates and look at their provenance. I have explained in the past that my mum and my grandad worked in the potbanks of Tunstall and Burslem—namely, at H&R Johnson and Dunn Bennett & Co.

However, many people do not realise that ceramics shape every aspect of our lives. Ceramics companies manufacture the clay bricks, roof tiles and pipes that we need for our homes.