MAY 2018

“In Wales, Labour & Co-op Assembly Members
serve as ministers in the Welsh government that is
providing support for co-op businesses from the
new Development Bank of Wales; new support for
agricultural co-ops; and continued funding for the
Wales Co-operative Centre. In Scotland, Labour &
Co-op MSPs have championed the introduction of
Scotland’s own version of the Marcora law, which
enables Italian workers to buy out their companies.”
Ms McCarthy reveals that the Co-operative
Party is consulting the sector on its priorities for
the post-Brexit era to help the movement manage
the challenges and uncertainties and maximise
opportunities in the future. “We want to hear more
views and insights from across the movement on
this,” she adds.
Ed Mayo, secretary general of Co-operatives UK,
the national apex body for co-ops, thinks current
politics is marked by more “uncertainty” and
“division” than for a long time.
“For the co-operative sector, we experience that
in terms of responding to some genuinely long-term
visionary policy thinking by opposition parties,
coupled with the week-to-week challenges of getting
co-ops onto the agenda for the government of the
day. Brexit rules, and so much of our focus has been
on getting clearer terms for our members in the big
negotiations under way,” he says.
As part of its work with the agricultural sector,
Co-operatives UK recently held a roundtable in
Parliament for its members, with the farming
minister speaking and a presentation on European
farmers co-ops by COGECA. In February the
government announced a £10m collaboration fund,
to support co-ops in the sector, a move Co-operatives
UK had lobbied for.
The roundtable enabled the farming minister to
meet with co-ops and discuss how the sector can help
the food and farming industry face its challenges.
Members of co-ops pointed out to government
members that the emphasis should be on supporting
exiting groups operating to enable them to grow
rather than creating new co-ops.
“This was in Westminster, but in fact the more
impressive policy around farmer co-operatives is
arguably in Scotland, led by our federal member
SAOS, working in partnership with the wider
industry,” adds Mr Mayo.
“Co-operatives ought to be a good option for all
devolved government, and Scottish farming policy
since 1997 is an excellent case study, bringing
significant benefits in terms of the co-operative
contribution to jobs and the economy.
“Similarly, in Wales, we are seeing
a new generation of co-operatives emerge
around housing and social care. In the North
West and in the Midlands, there are active
clusters of our members looking to champion the
co-operative and wider social economy options with
the new mayors. In East Anglia and Lincolnshire,
co-operative business leaders are playing a key role
in the Local Enterprise Partnerships.”
In Westminster, Co-operatives UK’s campaign
to cut audit burdens for smaller co-ops has just
finished, with legislation to make audit requirements
fairer to co-ops coming into force on 6 April.
According to Mr Mayo, these are practical advances
for the sector, which continues to face the challenge
of being recognised by the political party in power as
a conduit for an inclusive economy.
“It is an achievement to have cross-party support
for co-ops, but we need to turn up the dial on the
level of that support if we are to have the influence
we need for the co-operative economy,” he says.
“If inspiration was needed, it could come from
a setting far beyond Brexit – the United Nations.
Having agreed 17 Sustainable Development Goals
with member states as a powerful shared vision of
a different economic trajectory, the United Nations
secretary general, António Guterres, points to
co-ops as ‘uniquely placed’ and ‘natural vehicles’ to
deliver on those ambitious goals.”
p Scotland’s farming
policy since 1997 is an
example of how co-ops
can contribute to the
economy and jobs
MAY 2018 | 45