A worker produces crockery in the Emma Bridgewater factory, which employs around 185 people and manufactures 1.3 million pieces of pottery each year in the centre of Stoke-on-Trent, central England on February 14, 2017. The by-election for the seat of Stoke-on-Trent Central, which has been held by the Labour Party since 1950, will take place on February 23, 2017. On a rich seam of clay in England’s West Midlands, Stoke became the world centre of pottery production by 1800. Now fewer than 10,000 people still work in an industry that once employed 80,000 in Stoke, as factories closed and production shifted to Asia over the last 20 years. /RSS / AFP PHOTO / OLI SCARFF / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ROBIN MILLARD