GMB urges government to display British pottery in global embassies to support ceramic industry
The GMB union calls on the government to work on the use of British-made pottery and cutlery in all British embassies and senior commissions around the world as part of supporting the country’s struggling ceramic sector.
GMB Secretary General Gary Smith said in a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy that the move would convey a “clear message that we place British manufacturing at the heart of everything we do as a country” and would help promote one of the UK’s most famous industries to an international audience.
Smith warned that after years of political neglect, competition for gas kilns to spiral energy costs and forged imports, the UK’s ceramics industry, which employs more than 20,000 workers, was “at the intersection”.
“British ceramics are jealous of the world, but political failures have left our pottery companies fighting eye-catching costs to keep the kilns illuminated,” Smith wrote. “Through a network of more than 300 embassies and high-level commissions, the UK has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to showcase British pottery from embassies around the world.”
GMB leaders highlighted the collapse of three Staffordshire-based companies – Royal Stafford, Heraldic Pottery and Moorcroft, this year alone, warning that hundreds of jobs were lost and more communities were threatened.
While praising the skills of British ceramicists and the global reputation of British ceramics, Smith called for “practical steps” from the government to support the industry, which produces world-class tableware and industrial ceramic components. He urged the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to take role models as examples to procure from unionized British manufacturers listed on the Commitment Website of Union Potteries.
GMB said it welcomed further negotiations with the government on the proposal, both a symbolic and practical commitment to the “critical British industry” and its survival was increasingly under pressure.
