Britons might never again get the chance to buy an electric kettle made in the UK. Even a £150 kettle from Dualit, the company most famous for making its celebrated toaster in Crawley, West Sussex, is produced by Chinese workers 5,000 miles away.
Most consumers think the whereabouts of the factory or assembly plant riveting their latest purchase together is irrelevant, but those who do want it to be produced locally do not have a choice.
There have been “buy British” campaigns in the past, and supermarkets, under pressure to show their support for UK farmers, continue to plaster domestic produce with union jack labels.
These days it might seem a bit Trumpian to talk about fostering homegrown kettle making.
And Malcolm Featherstone, who wants his nascent company to be part of a manufacturing renaissance, stood as a Reform candidate in Harlow, Essex in last year’s general election.
Yet, this seasoned business executive, one of three founders behind the British Domestic Appliance Company, is tapping into the climate change debate and the post-pandemic concern about economic security much more than he is a sense of nostalgia for a bygone age.
Sadly, he has tried to drum up interest in his latest scheme – manufacturing kettles under the brand Chameleon – to no avail.
Featherstone says his experience after three rounds of fundraising is that “no one is interested in putting their money into UK manufacturing”, adding “everyone who is looking to invest is only really interested in two things, green finance and fintech companies”.
He hopes to keep his business alive with a prototype and a fresh round of visits to potential investors, but admits “we are stuck at this time”.
The company’s pitch should appeal to people who want to reduce carbon emissions and cut waste as the would-be kettle will be made in the UK – reducing transport costs – and like a Dualit toaster, have replaceable parts, also made in the UK. (Consumers would have to be willing to pay a premium, however – at £80 to £90, Featherstone’s kettle would initially be more expensive than its Chinese rivals.)
“I didn’t see why every kettle on the shelves in Britain is made in China,” he says. “There are Italian and German kettles, but we seem to have given up.”
Avoiding Chinese goods in favour of domestic producers under the America First banner was a feature of the US president’s rhetoric in his first term. Since taking office for a second time, Trump has revived the slogan and said he will impose wide-ranging import tariffs to give extra support.
For instance, in the US there are a number of statutes that require firms receiving federal assistance to prefer goods, products and materials made within the country’s borders. The EU has rules on imports to prevent domestic producers being outrun by Chinese imports, something the UK has stepped back from implementing.
Meanwhile, slogans urging UK consumers to buy British have never gained the same traction. In 2023, the UK ran a trade deficit in goods of £188bn, offset by a surplus of £173bn on trade in services to leave an overall deficit of £15bn.
Maybe, says Featherstone, consumers will begin to look more favourably on UK-produced goods when they consider how complicated supply chains stretching halfway round the world can easily be disrupted, sending prices rocketing in times of economic stress.
Concerns about environmental damage from shipments of fast fashion and not-so-durable goods from the far east could also give consumers added impetus to buy British.
China’s cheap prices are viewed through an ethical lens that marks Beijing down for using slave labour and pursuing pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong while plotting to subsume Taiwan into a vision of greater China.
China, though, has made deep inroads into western domestic markets, making it difficult and costly to buy elsewhere. And attempts to invent or revive mass market British brands have a chequered history.
According to official figures, factory output accounts for 8.2% of national income, or gross domestic product (GDP), down from about 30% in 1970, indicating the diminishing role manufacturing plays in the UK economy.
Except, a recent report by Oxford Economics and Lloyds Bank argued that with all the add-ons and service contracts associated with the sector included, its impact is far greater than the official measure, concluding it was worth £518bn in 2022, or nearly a quarter (23%) of UK GDP.
Labour’s long-awaited industrial strategy is expected to appear this summer and is likely to give support to homegrown manufacturing.
Tackling high energy prices should be a cornerstone of new policies when, according to government data, a small UK manufacturer pays 25p per kilowatt hour (kWh) compared with 19p in France and Germany. The cost drops to 9p in the champions of renewable energy, Denmark and Finland, and 8p in the US. Chinese firms pay less than 1p per kWh.
Maybe Featherstone and business people like him will find backers when the costs underpinning their enterprises are lower. It would benefit the nation if the manufacturing sector can claim more winners.
