Background

The Co-operative Party’s policy process is member-led, meaning the collective ideas and experiences of members across the country help to shape our policy. This policy forms our platform at election time and gives us a to-do list in Parliament.

Every year, we consult members on a number of particular policy areas. It is an opportunity to review and update our existing policy platform, to develop new policies and to be more ambitious in our aims. Submissions made by local parties and individual members over the consultation period for the starting point for debates at regional conferences and our annual conference in the Autumn, where delegates can discuss and vote on proposals.

At a glance

The 2020 policy process focuses on two topics:

• Connecting Communities: From buses to broadband

We’ll be looking at the physical and virtual infrastructure that connects our communities, and asking how co-operative solutions can help.

• Corporate Governance: Making businesses work for the common good

We’ll be looking at how we govern our businesses so that they are more responsible and sustainable, in line with our co-operative values.

Things to do

Party officers are strongly encouraged to arrange a policy discussion for you local party on either or both of the policy topics. Meetings should be scheduled with consideration to May’s local elections, if they are happening in your area, and held in January, February, late May or early June.

• Click here to list your event on the Party’s website.

After your meeting(s), you need to send us your notes so that we can include the views of the members in your local party in policy development. You can do this on our website by uploading a document or answering the questions  directly. Please note, we are only accepting submissions sent via our website. Please do not send submissions by email or post.

• Click here to upload or answer questions on “Connecting Communities”
• Click here to upload or answer questions on “Corporate Governance”

Deadline

The deadline for submissions is 14th June 2020.

What next?

After the deadline, all submissions will be considered by the Policy Subcommittee of the NEC and a report outlining their responses will be published prior to the Party’s annual conference in October.

The submissions and Policy Subcommittee responses will then form the basis of policy debates at annual conference.