Chancellor Rachel Reeves says Stoke-on-Trent's struggling ceramics industry will benefit from government investment in 'home-grown' energy.

Ms Reeves visited the city on Monday and said that increased government spending in energy, housing and the NHS would improve life for Stoke-on-Trent residents.

And she rejected comparisons to Conservative austerity following news of £5 billion cuts to disability benefits. The Chancellor, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, visited the Bournes Bank housing development in Burslem to announce £2 billion of new investment in social and affordable homes across the country.

Social landlord Your Housing Group is building 43 homes on the brownfield site, which includes the iconic and recently restored Three Sisters bottle kilns, thanks to Homes England investment under the previous government.

The site is also just a stone's throw away from the Royal Stafford potbank, which entered liquidation earlier this year.

Ms Reeves welcomed the sale of Royal Stafford's plant and machinery to Derbyshire-based TG Green and Co Limited but acknowledged the ongoing problems faced by the wider industry. She said that government investment in renewable energy would help struggling manufacturers.

Ms Reeves said: "We recognise the importance of the ceramics industry to Stoke, not just in terms of heritage but the contribution it continues to make today.

"It's welcome news that Royal Stafford has a buyer, but I do recognise that there are other businesses as well who are concerned about the future. This is why we're investing in home-grown British energy, so we are less reliant on the volatile international energy market.

"One of the big challenges facing the ceramics industry is the sky-high cost of energy, putting huge pressure on the sector. That's why we're having this sprint to invest in renewable energy that's made in Britain, which will mean that Putin and dictators around the world can't put their boot on our neck and make us pay over the odds for energy."

The Labour government, and particularly Ms Reeves, have faced criticism recently due to sluggish economic growth and controversial measures such as the rise in employer National Insurance contributions.

There has also been opposition to plans to slash the welfare bill by £5 billion by cutting disability benefits.

But the Chancellor insisted Stoke-on-Trent residents, who elected three Labour MPs last year, would benefit from her government's policies, with NHS waiting lists down and the minimum wage set to rise to £12.12-an-hour from next week.

Ms Reeves says the £2 billion investment in housing will deliver up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes, helping fulfil the government's pledge to build 1.5 million homes over this parliament and addressing the "desperate housing crisis" in the West Midlands.

She said: "Real spending will increase in every year of this parliament – that's a far cry from what we saw under the Conservatives when there were real cuts to spending right across government. That won't be the case under this Labour government.

"We've brought stability back to the economy and put record investment into public services. We're proud of doing that. It did come at a cost. We increased taxes on the wealthiest and also on businesses, but all that money went into securing our public finances and investing in our NHS.

"We have a basic principle that we must protect those who need support, and we must also support those who can work to get back into work. That's why we've said there will be additional support for those with the most severe disabilities, but at the same time we're going to put a billion pounds into personalised targeted support for those people who are out of work today, but could get back into work if they had that support. We believe in the pride and dignity that comes from work."

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Read more: Largest council-backed sheltered housing scheme in five years unveiled in Stoke-on-Trent

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