NOVEMBER 2018

Socialists, made a defiant call for a People’s Vote,
and said she refused to accept such a move was
“undemocratic”, arguing that Brexiters would
have continued to campaign if they had lost
the referendum.
She said the EU played an important role in
ensuring international peace and co-operation,
adding: “I’d rather send the next generation to
‘jaw jaw jaw’ in Europe, not send them marching
to ‘war war war’.”
In his keynote speech to the conference,
Vaughan Gething from the Welsh government,
said: “There is no bigger issue than our
relationship with Europe.
“It’s not just an economic choice, it is a social
choice. It is about who we are. We should lead,
rather than follow the people’s vote campaign.
It is an issue of generational importance ... I am
not prepared to stand here and watch the Tories
destroy our nation’s future.”
He added: “There is no can guarantee we will
win, and no guarantee there will be a people’s
vote, but you can guarantee that if we do not stand
up and fight for one, it will not happen.”
Bristol signs up to co-op councils movement
Bristol City Council is the latest addition to
the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network
(CCIN), which is using the movement’s principles
to reshape public services and create local
democratic economies.
Mayor Marvin Rees announced the move at the
Co-op Party conference, which the city hosted. He
said that while naturalists often talked of survival
of the fittest, “it is the species that co-operates
and learns to work together that survives and
thrives”. But efforts by local authorities to bring
positive outcomes in their communities were
threatened by Westminster cuts, he warned.
He said power in the UK was over-centralised
and this could not be sustained, arguing: “At local
government level we make space for a different
kind of thinking and for immediacy of delivery.”
It was important to increase the power of cities
to speak together “as a voice shaping national
policy”, he told delegates. And he paid tribute to
Bristol’s own thriving co-op sector, which ranges
from energy to newspapers, and said he was
committed to a “diversity of economy” in the city
which would ensure no one was left behind, despite
continued austerity.
He said council-owned energy, waste and
housing companies would ensure money stayed
in the city “to invest in social outcomes”. Bristol
was beating the targets it had set on affordable
housebuilding, he added, and the authority was
committed to the Living Wage and to closing the
gender pay gap.
Cllr Sharon Taylor, leader of Stevenage Borough
Council and Chair of CCIN, said: “We are delighted
to welcome Bristol City Council to the network as
our 23rd member.
“Joining the CCIN really does offer opportunities
to learn from other local authorities across the
UK committed to delivering co-operative best
practice ... We’re really looking forward to working
with Mayor Rees and finding out more about their
‘One Bristol Approach’.”
q Bristol mayor Marvin
Rees (third from left) with
Cllr Chris Penberthy from
CCIN member Plymouth
Council, CCIN head of
communications Nicola
Huckerby, and Cllr Tom
Brook from Bristol
City Council
NOVEMBER 2018 | 31