Pottery Industry (Development Council)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 September 1948.

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Photo of Mr John Mack Mr John Mack , Newcastle-under-Lyme 12:00, 14 September 1948

It speaks well for the admirable restraint of hon. Members this afternoon that the spacious time at their disposal has not been fully availed of. As a consequence of that I feel we should bear in mind many of the arguments which all of us would like to bring to bear on this subject, and I have no doubt that the young, virile, agile President of the Board of Trade, who has the advantage of youth and imagination, will respond with alacrity to the suggestions that have come from these benches. I am particularly interested in the subject though I have not as great a personal interest as my hon. Friend the Member for Burslem (Mr. Edward Davies), but I represent a contiguous industrial constituency which is gravely concerned in the welfare of the Potteries and the immediate district, because from Newcastle-under-Lyme are drawn in fair measure some of the workers for the industries in those areas.

I claim no particular technical knowledge but it can truthfully be said that the pottery industry has rendered yeoman service to this country and has worked under the most terrible conditions and often in evil surroundings. The town of Stoke-upon-Trent houses over a quarter of a million people—and they are very wonderful people—and like much of North Staffordshire it is covered by a perpetual pall of black smoke. It was built many years ago under a capitalist system, which, as hon. Gentlemen opposite will appreciate, was a type of system against which we on these benches fought. Like hundreds of other similar areas it sprang up willy-nilly with separate, badly organised pottery organisations. There are extremes. On the one hand, there is the magnificent works of Wedgewood, at Barlaston, which is an example of our industrial efficiency, and on the other, by contrast, some of the most miserable and abject works. I do not know what actual term to apply to them but I might call them pot banks which are a disgrace to any industrial country.

In the industry for the most part there has been industrial peace. That is because the workers are particularly proud of their craft in the potteries and because female labour has been exploited. Today the workers are responding magnificently to the call made to export as much as possible and their achievement has been an outstanding one. They still harbour a certain amount of resentment that they are not being treated adequately and properly, and the result is that they are having to work under conditions which are often more suitable for moles than human beings. There are, of course, different types of employers varying from "not so good" to "better" employers, and because of these factors there is a certain amount of depression amongst the workers. They look to the Government, and in particular to a Labour Government, to do all they can. Many promises have been made by the Labour Government—[Interruption.] Yes, and fulfilled in great part, much to their credit—and the workers look to the Government to modernise this industry and to make it adequate technically and generally efficient.

I know that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has given a figure of £1,620,000 as being the limit of our capital expenditure for last year, and that we are to look to something like £2,000 million on capital expenditure this year. The President of the Board of Trade must be in consultation from time to time with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask for more money for capital development, particularly insofar as it affects export, so there is a good opportunity for building up an efficient and modern pottery industry. Unfortunately, we should have to tear down the greater part of the present ramshackle industrial potworks in order to make the industry really efficient, though I am sure that British pottery will bear comparison with pottery in any other part of the world.

At the present time there is a danger of a contracting market. I agree that we must not be misled by the situation today that we can export pottery to any part of the world, but the fact remains that the market is contracting. The Japanese are now able to produce, as they did before the war, pottery of good quality and at much cheaper rates than we can. What encouragement have our people, unless we can give them a real live thrust, coming from the President of the Board of Trade? I know that my right hon. Friend has been to Stoke-upon-Trent some months ago and has seen the situation for himself. He will understand, I am sure, that the injunctions we are trying to give him are in order to achieve something that he wants to see accomplished. In regard to the goods which are available in the shops, may I point out that if we go to Grimsby we do not see very much fish and if we do see fish we have to pay a lot for it. In the same way, if we go to Stoke-upon-Trent or other places in North Staffordshire we do not get more pottery than in other parts of the country. Nevertheless, people want these things in greater degree, partly to give them incentive to work harder and to brighten their lives.

We have heard that there is a certain amount of resentment amongst the organised workers. Bless my soul, I have in mind an industrialist in my own constituency. He always seems to have a complant against the alleged inefficiency and the inadequacy of the Government. Anyone with a captious mind, and a certain type of political outlook, could find fault with the Government, who have been a little remiss in certain respects. The overall picture however shows that the Government are very much concerned to stimulate industries in all parts of the country. The result has been to create in the minds of the workers a certain amount of dissatisfaction with the Government. I know that Governments are there to be got at and Ministers have to be shot at. We must therefore exercise forbearance, but the Labour Government has a special interest to improve the working conditions of every industry as quickly as possible and to make those industries as efficient as possible.

I do not regard the setting up of a development council as Government interference. If my right hon. Friend has an equal number of employers and employees, and his own direct representatives on the development council as well as a certain number of independent people, that will be an important step. I view with a great degree of suspicion the somewhat cryptic word "independent." I do not recognise literally that term. There are very few people without some degree of bias. Therefore, the people who are appointed as "independents" ought to be considered very carefully. The object of a development council is to develop and not to retard. The sooner the Government give a clear clarion call to our industry to show the workers that they are watching everything and are doing all that is possible, having regard to their commitments, the sooner will the workers realise that the Labour Government are very serious about the promises they have made to improve conditions in the industry.

I, therefore, appeal to my right hon. Friend to look more closely into the matter and, as soon as possible—if he cannot do so this afternoon—to give us at the first available opportunity information what his Department is doing so that we may know that they are facing the problem fairly and squarely. We hope that they are determined to improve the life and working conditions of the working class people of this country, than whom there is no finer body of people in the world.