A Stoke-on-Trent MP has called on the government to support ceramics firms following the collapse of Royal Stafford.

The Burslem-based pottery brand, which dates back to 1845, closed down this week with the loss of more than 80 jobs, after being hit by rising energy costs and falling orders.

Energy-intensive industries such as ceramics have been affected particularly badly by the spike in gas prices in recent years, and have also been under pressure to undertake costly dercabonisation. Stoke-on-Trent North MP David Williams raised the plight of the sector in the House of Commons on Tuesday, and asked for an urgent meeting with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Mr Williams said: "As well as residents, businesses in the ceramics sector struggle with high energy bills and face many other pressures. Sadly, only yesterday more than 80 workers in my constituency lost their jobs when Royal Stafford, a historic ceramics manufacturer for nearly 200 years, went into liquidation—a devastating blow for the workers and their families.

MP David Williams has asked for an urgent meeting with Ed Miliband (parliamentlive.tv).

"Will the Secretary of State meet GMB officials, Ceramics UK and me as a matter of urgency to explain how the Government will support the ceramics sector, protect jobs, and tackle the serious difficulties that energy-intensive industries face in decarbonising?"

Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh expressed sympathy over the situation at Royal Stafford, but insisted that reducing the UK's reliance on imported fossil fuels would be the best way of protecting jobs in the future.

She said: "My honourable friend is right to point out that we need to reduce energy bills for businesses, including those in energy-intensive industries. I was sorry to hear about the job losses in his constituency, and one of the ministerial team will be happy to meet him.

"I must add, however, that this is exactly why we are running our clean power mission. We see that the route through which we can drive down bills is breaking our dependence on global fossil fuel markets over which we have no control, in order to take ourselves off the rollercoaster of price rises and price hikes that is so damaging to businesses. While we do that, we are working with Ofgem and industry to ensure that businesses are not being locked into expensive contracts, and to ensure that they have much stronger redress when things go wrong."

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