Councillor – Canterbury City 

Election Statement 

Mel Dawkins is a councillor for Kent County Council and a district councillor in Canterbury, Kent. 

She sits on the cabinet as the portfolio holder for climate change, the environment and is a champion for climate action.

She will represent cooperative members from all walks of life and bring to the role her wealth of knowledge and experience from the front lines of local government.

She has always been an advocate for cooperative initiatives, and was a member of a housing coop in London for many years. Currently, she is developing community energy initiatives within the district, and also collaborating with officers to provide a community garden program. Mel has been a delegate at Cooperative conference, regular attendee of regional conference and serves as the secretary of the Coop party branch in Canterbury, Ashford, and Swale.

Through her involvement as a parliamentary candidate for Faversham and Mid Kent in GE24, she has gained valuable insight into the inner workings of national and regional executives and is well trained to sit at committee level and stand up for our members.

With her experience as a special needs teacher, music enthusiast, and local councillor, Mel believes she can effectively represent the NEC membership due to her transferable skills, breath of experience, and passion for empowering and supporting the most vulnerable members of our communities. Despite her hearing impairment from birth, Mel is committed to a fair and equal society, which has led to her tenacious nature of never giving up.

www.facebook.com/meldawkinscouncillor
www.instagram.com/melcanterburycitysouth
www.x.com/themelzebra
www.meldawkins.org 

Co-operative Party Experience 

Mel is the co-founder and chair of the local park friends group, which works to provide spaces for wildflower meadows and a safer atmosphere for all. She is also chair of residents community group to bring together the community with sharing picnics and social walks.  

She prioritises social ownership and set up a CIC for youth in the city centre, helping to provide a safe, welcoming, empowering and inclusive space for young people. 

She has collaborated with the housing department to support and elevate community-led housing and to ensure a local housing cooperative could expand and provide more coop homes.  

Co-operative Movement Experience 

Mel was an active member of the committee and a long-time tenant of the Quadrant-Brownswood Tenant Co-operative. Since then, as a local Labour and Cooperative councillor, she has worked tirelessly to support housing cooperative initiatives in her community.
Through her activities, she encouraged more Labour members to join the movement and advocated the coop principles.
She ensured that the cooperative values were upheld at Pride by setting up a stall and raising the profile of Coop LGBTQ+  

She has proposed a fair tax motion before the council and advocated for a real living wage and sustainable procurement. 

Governance Experience 

Mel is the secretary for the Ashford, Swale, and Canterbury Branch. She was re-elected to serve as a Labour and Cooperative councillor for Canterbury and is a county councillor for Kent. 

She has also served on the executive committee of the local labour branch as the women's officer and the disability officer. 

Mel is the cabinet member for environment and climate change. In accordance with the most recent biodiversity declaration, she chairs and leads the biodiversity group. She has been very supportive and an advocate of neighbourhood community gardens and wider climate action community initiatives. 

Councillor - Wolverhampton City 

Election Statement 

I am a active Labour and  co -operative  councillor Plus the chairperson of the labour group in Wolverhampton. 

I am the  vice chair of our Co operative  Branch in  west midlands.

I  am the chairperson of Interfaith Wolverhampton and a member of Rotary Club Bilston. I have my own charity Sisterhood of Women to empower young girls and women to reach their full potential in life.

I am a mother, I work in education while my husband works in the NHS. I understand the cost of living crises and poverty I see it every day.

Only through engagement, diversity and inclusion can we help wider communities grow to be safe and inclusive place to live to work.

I will continue fighting for our schools, NHS and our communities for a better life better housing and a safe community to live for all.

I am hard working and dedicated community activist supporting cultural events celebrating  diversity and faith events being a part of them community cohesion community togetherness.

Campaigning against racial injustice  I am passionate about tackling poverty, climate change, inequality and helping our communities empowering them to effect change  , Influence decision makers and have effective voice for politics.  

I am running for NEC to help focus our movement and play my part creating tangible ad sustainable solutions.

We cannot achieve change and progression alone - allyship and support is crucial. As a collective, We can achieve great things. 

Co-operative Party Experience 

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Co-operative Movement Experience 

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Governance Experience 

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Councillor - Warrington Borough 

Election Statement 

I want to serve on the NEC to ensure that our values and strategic objectives reach a wider audience than ever; informing the approach of our new Government as it delivers a changed Britain. 

I’ve been a nurse, a social worker and a carer. I now work at a local welfare charity and am a Councillor in Warrington, proud to have elected a Labour and Cooperative team that has grown considerably, with a new Labour and Cooperative MP in Warrington South.

I’ve promoted the recruitment of cooperators as CLP chair and as women’s officer, organised successful events and fundraisers, encouraging women to play their full part in our movement.

In recent years, my cabinet responsibilities for climate change and housing are issues on which the Cooperative Party has much to contribute; cheaper renewable energy and promotion of more ethical practices — pro-business, pro-worker and pro-community — are not only possible but essential.

We need a just transition to a different way of life. GB Energy promises — after a fantastic Cooperative Party campaign — to be a groundbreaking initiative, but there is still much to do.

We can deliver ethical housing; social, affordable, with climate-responsible technology to reduce bills, ensuring rapid progress towards net zero.

We must tackle waste in society, with more initiatives like repair cafes; improving sustainability whilst retaining skills.

Labour and Cooperative members, working together will achieve great things. As your representative on the NEC, I want to take a lead in making it happen.

I would value your vote. 

Co-operative Party & Movement Experience 

Cooperative Membership and involvement in the movement.

I have been a cooperative party member since 2021 and a Labour and Cooperative Councillor since then. I encouraged my fellow Ward members to apply too so we are a Labour and Cooperative Ward. This ensures we can put this in our publications.

I have been on Cooperative Party candidate training which was really helpful.

I have also used the tools provided by the Party and campaign resources.

I contacted the local north west organiser when I was the CLP chair and arranged for a presentation to encourage more recruitment. 

Governance Experience 

As Labour Group Secretary on the Council I ensured due diligence and process at every meeting and held senior elected members to account on Standing Orders, advising the Leader on voting procedures and decision making. This is important for everyone. I believe in fairness and equality so I  included all members in the development of the constitution ensuring it contained the cooperative model.

I supported every single member to identify their skills and abilities to ensure full involvement. 

Councillor – Royal Borough of Greenwich 

Election Statement 

I am a Labour & Cooperative councillor in south London, Greenwich since 2014. A former deputy leader that has lead on different portfolios, including Transport, Regeneration, Business, Culture and Community. Recently, I was lead on Health and Adult Social Care where I worked alongside other London boroughs to lobby the Tory Home Secretary on the plight of asylum seekers being housed in hotels.

Throughout the covid crisis, as the deputy leader and business lead, I distributed £36million of small business relief benefitting 2500 businesses, and I oversaw the implementation of £50million of business rate holiday.

As lead for transport I lead on the climate change agenda, and delivered London’s first Low Emission Neighbourhood scheme and declared a climate emergency.

To tackle poverty I worked alongside Sir Bob Kerlake, who co-chaired the Greenwich Fairness Commission, which looked at inequalities in Housing, Education, Employment, Finance and Health.

Since 2020, I have been the president of the National Members Council for the Coop Group. It’s a national position within the cooperative movement and a role where I champion the concerns of over five million members, and where I worked on the violence against shop workers campaign. The Co-operative Group, trades as the Co-op, and includes food retail and life services and made £11.3 billion in revenue (2023).

I previously worked as a university lecturer in London teaching both BA and Masters courses in journalism and media. Prior to teaching, I worked as a journalist and news producer in  both London and New York. 

Co-operative Party Experience 

I have a lot of Co-op Party experience.  As well as being a Labour and Cooperative councillors for two political terms, I have been the vice-chair of the Greenwich Co-op party and an active member of my local coop branch for over six years. In the role, I have helped kick start the Greenwich Cooperative Commission being done by the council.  At the same time, and at the regional level, I have been an active member of the London Co-operative Party Council. In the role, I have represented them at Co-op national conferences and spoken at their events. 

Co-operative Movement Experience 

I currently have a national role  within the cooperative movement; Since 2021 I have been the president of the National Members Council (NMC) for the Coop Group.  I represents over five million members and chair a hundred-member council  and champion co-operative values and principles within the movement and beyond.  I have been an active member of the NMC since 2018. In this role, I have attended and spoken at cooperative conferences. Over the last few years I have worked closely with other retail coops on the violence against shopworkers campaign. Also I currently sit on the board of Co-operatives Press. 

Governance Experience 

Extensive governance experience gained from working at the strategic level in different organisations, businesses, regional and national bodies.  This includes operating within the Coop Group, a £11billion revenue retail cooperatives with a complex governance system. Being a deputy Leader and ten years as a cabinet lead working on borough-wide governance issues across different portfolios in Greenwich.  Plus working within national and regional bodies like London Councils’ committees and Local Government Association policy boards.  Plus I have worked in smaller organisations like being a school governor of an outstanding school and being CLP secretary for my local Labour party. 

Councillor: Oldham Borough 

Election Statement 

I became the first Muslim female Council Leader in the North of England selected to Lead Oldham Council in May 2021. 

 As a woman I felt I was already at a disadvantage but as a Muslim woman even more so. Those two things shaped my every interaction I have in my role as Leader and in my political career so far. My background, despite being similar to other working class politicians is subject to more scrutiny and speculation. I am held to account, not only for my own actions, but those of my family/friends and the wider Muslim community. The  motivations behind decisions are often attributed to my race/religion.

There is much in politics of discussing disadvantage, barriers and representation and that is important. BAME is so much more than that for me. It's true that I live in a town which has struggles to overcome, but I stand as a success. The first generation to go to university, the first Muslim leader of Oldham's co-operative Council, sitting at the top table on the Gordon Brown commission and investing my time in changing the conversation. That means we change the language to one of confidence, of value, and of contribution. Standing for this position not to be the only BAME voice around the table, but to make BAME representation commonplace across all levels. That needs not just a representative but someone with tried and tested leadership skills, a strong and confident voice to deliver fairer outcomes within and throughout the Cooperative family. 

Co-operative Party Experience 

Campaigning has been at the heart of my career in politics & as a coop member. The most successful campaigns are those that talk directly to the issues that local people need & want addressing and that can only come from driving an ongoing culture of engagement and cooperation between politicians and those they represent. As a result many of the local campaigns I have led have focused on the issues that make the most difference in areas like Oldham and elsewhere – those addressing poverty and disadvantage, those supporting the most vulnerable & those which aim to bring communities together. 

Co-operative Movement Experience 

I have contributed party conferences, events and campaigns not limited to but including:

Unlock our High street
Coop Local Gov Conference
Coop Diverse Councils
Coop Bame Event
National Campaign Days  

Governance Experience 

As leader of Oldham Council I was responsible for ensuring the council set a balanced budget whilst distributing well over £200 million across statutory and non statutory services that local people rely on and expect from a council.

I also ensured that services were distributed fairly across all communities. 

In my capacity as leader I also chaired the Council's Cabinet and executive functions ensuring that all decision making is taken in line with legislation.