Pottery worker tells minister about fight for jobs

Sharon Yates said she was "continuing to fight"

A ceramics worker who addressed the Labour Party conference about financial issues affecting the industry got a meeting with the energy secretary Ed Miliband.

Sharon Yates, who has worked at Dunoon in Stone, Staffordshire, for more than 30 years urged the government to give the pottery industry more support and told the conference how potters were fighting for their jobs.

She spoke as the GMB Union said UK ceramics firms pay an estimated £875m a year in energy costs, much lower than an equivalent Chinese or US ceramics manufacturer.

The government has said it had a strategy which included measures of support and a scheme which would look to reduce electricity bills by up to 25%.

Ms Yates, who addressed the Liverpool conference on Monday, told BBC Radio Stoke she met Miliband on Tuesday and he "did listen".

"He was told straight and I told him bluntly how it is and the situation [in] the pottery industry and for the people of Stoke-on-Trent."

'Always get emotional'

The ceramics sector has called on the government to subsidise what it said were "crippling" energy bills.

Ms Yates told the conference: "We potters are fighting for our jobs every single day, but our Labour government must fight also for the jobs that exist today, not just the jobs that will exist tomorrow."

She told the BBC she also met Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle on Tuesday.

"We're continuing to fight, because [of]... the problems that we've got with the cheap imports.

Asked if she felt nervous addressing people in power, Ms Yates replied: "I was very nervous and I always get emotional because I love the potteries that much."

The GMB said the estimated £875m figure had increased by more than £330m since 2020.

It said Nottingham Trent University analysis suggested UK ceramics firms spend 70% of turnover on energy costs and 14% on government and regulatory levies.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said it recognised challenges faced by "potteries and ceramics businesses".

"That is why our Industrial Strategy included measures to support the sector, including our Supercharger scheme that will slash energy prices as part of the Plan for Change."

They added "a new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will look to reduce electricity bills for manufacturing sectors like ceramics by up to 25%".