The role of Party Councils and branches

Approval of local government candidates rest with the local Co-operative Party Council, who may in turn decide to delegate this power to their branches.

Some local parties have a well-established local government panel and process for selecting candidates, but this guide is intended to provide support to those that may not have that place and share best practice.

What is a Co-operative Candidate for Local Government?

Under our electoral agreement with the Labour Party, the Co-operative Party can stand joint Labour & Co-operative candidates for local council elections. This means that that individual has been selected to stand by both parties and can have the ‘Labour & Co-operative Party’ description on the ballot paper. They can be referred to as a Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor and may attract local financial support.

Why stand as a Labour & Co-operative candidate?

• Commitment to the Co-op Party and co-operative values publicly recognised.
• Opportunity to promote co-operative campaigns such as supporting credit unions, local bus services, Fairtrade and the Fair Tax mark as a candidate and (hopefully!) Councillor.
• Access to the Co-operative Councillors Network – which gives access to email briefings, our Facebook group and events.
• Support (including potential financial support) from your local Co-op Party

What do Labour & Co-operative Councillors do?

Co-operative Councillors work and campaign on a wide range of issues. That can be as part of a whole council approach or as simple as how Councillor works with their community. A co-operative Councillor will carry out all or some of the following:

Support co-operative solutions

The Co-operative Party believes in public ownership first, however co-operative models provide an alternative to privatisation. Whether that be local transport, adult social care or childcare, local councils are supporting co-operative solutions that put people before profit. For example, in West Oxfordshire local Councillors supported the creation of a community transport company.

Support the local co-operative economy

This could be supporting your local credit union or looking to rebalance the way the economy works through our ideas on community wealth. Preston Council have led the way in working with anchor institutions.

To find out more read our six steps to community wealth guide :

6 Steps to Build Community Wealth

Using what we already have to generate local economic growth co-operatively

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Work in a co-operative way –  work with and share power with communities.

Look at ways to empower their local community and help them find answers to local problems.

That includes things such as transfer of assets to the community, devolving of budgets and participatory budgeting. For example, in Lambeth Councillors created a Young Lambeth Co-op to give young people a voice in commissioning youth services.
More information is available at our local government toolkit

12 Ideas for Local Government Manifestos

Are you a current Co-operative Councillor or a Council Candidate? Here are 12 campaign ideas and issues to take on in your manifesto.

The Co-operative Party selection is separate to the Labour Party and runs alongside it. Once a person has been selected by the Labour Party to stand in a specific ward, they can be confirmed as a Labour & Co-operative Candidate for that ward too.

An applicant will go through the Labour Party selection process which will be run by their Local Campaign Forum or District Party. Once they have secured the ward nomination from the Labour Party, their Co-op Party nomination can be confirmed.

Eligibility

For local council elections, we only stand joint candidates, so to be a Co-operative Party candidate you must also be a member of the Labour Party and be selected by your local Labour Party to stand for election.

The national rules say candidates must:

Have been in membership of the Party for six months and member of a co-op for three years.
However, local parties may add additional criteria or choose to waive these rules, particularly if they discourage some candidates such as young people, women and BAME members, or if there have not been local opportunities for members to participate.

Co-operative Party Application Process

The Party Council can decide the selection process it wishes to follow – below are number of examples.

Simple Process

1. Applications are sought using a one-page application form
   
   

   Councillor Application Form Template

   Example councillor application form for use by local parties

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2. The Party Council or branch meets to consider these applications and agrees those it wishes to support.
3. The Party Council email the names to Membership Support using the Candidate Notification Form
   

Interview Process

1. Applications are sought using a one-page application form
   
   

   Councillor Application Form Template

   Example councillor application form for use by local parties

   Download Email
2. The Party Council or branch invites candidates to interview by a panel of members, who agree those it wishes to support.
3. The Party Council email the names of endorsed candidates to Membership Support using the Candidate Notification Form
   

Support to Candidates

Party Councils and branches can give financial support to candidates who have been endorsed, and it is up to them to decide the amount.  Typical amounts are between £50 – £200 per candidate. You may wish to give a flat amount to every candidate or provide more support to those candidates that have Co-operative Party on the ballot paper or are in a marginal seat.

An example of tiered financial support is as follows:

• £50 to every candidate
• £100 to candidates that have Labour & Co-operative on the ballot paper
• £150 to candidates in key marginal wards

Financial support is an important part of election campaigns but it may not be the only support you can provide to candidates. You may wish to organise Co-op Party campaign days for candidates, or support the printing of literature.

Receiving Applications

You need to ensure you advertise the application process to all members and provide a deadline for applications to be submitted by.

There is a best practice email from Plymouth Co-operative Party

and there is a model application form which captures the basic details needed and a supporting statement about why they wish to be considered as a co-operative candidate.

Councillor Application Form Template

Example councillor application form for use by local parties

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The Co-operative Party is trialling online application forms. If you are interested in this approach then please email local@party.coop

Once you have endorsed candidates

It is important that you let Membership Support (members@party.coop) know once you have agreed to support a candidate so they can get access to any national briefings and that the certificate can be issued in good time. There is a model form for you to complete, which helps capture the key details for the certificate.

If there is more than one Labour candidate standing in your ward, under our agreement with the Labour Party, all candidates must stand as ‘Labour’ or ‘Labour & Co-operative’.

Candidates who have been endorsed as a Co-operative candidate but can’t have it on the ballot paper as their colleagues aren’t Co-op Party candidates are called ‘Supported candidates’.

If you tell us who they are, they can still receive support, and publicly state they are supported by the Co-op Party, but just can’t have the description on the ballot paper.

The number of Labour & Co-operative candidates is growing and we want to encourage candidates new and existing to apply to stand with us. The Co-op Party has worked with the Local Government Association (LGA) to produce a guide to Being a Co-operative Councillor. This booklet covers a lot of basic information for those considering standing for the local council as well as information for candidates about what it means to stand as a Labour & Co-operative Councillor.

Becoming a co-operative councillor

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Copies of this booklet are available for your local branch and there is an accompanying training session which can be put on in your area for interested candidates or Labour Groups. Please email local@party.coop to arrange.

You may also want to consider drop-in sessions with existing Labour & Co-operative Councillors to find out more.

All candidates who wish to stand as ‘Labour and Co-operative’ candidates must have a certificate from both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party stating this. This applies only to candidates in single-member wards or candidates in multi-member wards where all the Labour candidates stand as Labour & Co-operative.

If successfully nominated, you will appear on the ballot paper as:

To receive a certificate, the local party must submit the return form at least two weeks before the close of nominations. In order to complete the form you will need this information at hand: name to appear on certificate; email address; local authority; ward/division; and the postal address to send the certificate to.

Make sure that the regional Labour Party knows in good time who the Labour and Co-operative Party candidates are so that they issue the correctly worded certificate Labour Party certificate.

Details of your regional Labour Party office are available here : https://labour.org.uk/contact/

If a candidate wishes to stand as Labour & Co-operative candidate in a by-election then this is possible.

Please phone Shane Brogan on 020 7367 4151 to inform us and we can ensure certificates are issued within the tight timescales.

Shane Brogan

Membership Manager