The UK furniture industry hasn’t always enjoyed close ties to Government. Despite being part of a £41b sector that employs over a quarter of a million people (according to the British Furniture Confederation), the concerns of furniture businesses are rarely discussed at the highest levels – but it seems the industry may have found a new ally in Erewash MP Adam Thompson, writes Furniture News’ Paul Farley …
Adam was selected as Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Erewash in July 2022, and, with his party emerging victorious in July 2024, he won the seat from the incumbent Conservative MP, Maggie Throup.
Given the sheer concentration of furniture businesses within his constituency, and supported by his background in education and engineering, Adam, who lives in Long Eaton, was a natural choice to chair the relaunched All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the furniture and furnishings industry – representing, as Maggie once had, the sector’s specific interests in Government circles, as opposed to his constituency matters alone.
In 2013, Adam graduated from the University of Warwick with a masters in physics, followed by a PGCE teaching qualification at the University of Southampton. He attained a PhD in metrology from the University of Nottingham, following which he worked at the university as a research scientist in manufacturing engineering.
There, he also served as a union representative for research scientists. Having trained as a teacher, Adam has cited his experience of working in schools during Michael Gove’s tenure as Education Secretary as a key influence on his decision to enter electoral politics – and his drive to make education and training more accessible comes at a crucial moment for Long Eaton’s furniture industry.
Read our interview with Adam in June's Long Eaton supplement, here.
