Doulton announced the closure of its last UK plant last month

Labour MP and Doulton shareholder Paul Farrelly said the debate was intended to focus attention on the firm, which closed its last UK factory last month.

Doulton has been losing money and shedding staff for several years.

Mr Farrelly failed in an attempt to persuade shareholders to vote out company chairman Hamish Grossart at Wednesday's AGM.

No profit

"Myself and Geoff Bagnall, the leader of the ceramics trade union, were urging shareholders to vote against the re-election of the chairman to make a point about the mismanagement of the company since Hamish Grossart took over," Mr Farrelly told BBC News Online.

"Since then, Royal Doulton has never made a profit and it's halved its sales.

"It's also closed all 11 UK factories and sacked or made redundant 4,000 workers."

Mr Farrelly wants to keep the pressure on Doulton's management

Doulton announced the closure of its last remaining UK plant last month with the loss of 500 jobs.

It confirmed the Nile Street factory in Stoke-on-Trent was being sold to property developers.

Mr Farrelly, MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, said that his efforts were never likely to result in the removal of Mr Grossart, who still has the backing of several significant shareholders in Royal Doulton.

"He came along with up to 99 million proxy votes, so of course he was going to win the day," Mr Farrelly said.

He added: "We're going to keep the pressure on Royal Doulton."

'Right direction'

Joan Walley, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, is also take part in the Commons debate, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

A company spokeswoman said Doulton had reduced its debts from �70m to �15m over the past six years.

She added that figures to the end of 2003 showed that the firm's losses before tax had been reduced by 80%.

"In the context Mr Grossart was brought on to the board, the company seems to be moving in the right direction," she said.