shanikamahendran

In the 6th richest nation in the world, it is nothing less than a horrific indictment of our country that, as the report reveals, nearly 6 million people experienced food poverty in the past six months.

In the run-up to the May elections, the Co-op Party will be hosting a number of phone banking sessions to help get co-operators across the country elected. I encourage everyone to join!

I was proud to mark International Trans Day of Visibility yesterday with what I believe was the first event in the long history of the Co-operative Party where a panel of all-transgender people could speak about what matters most to us.

In the year since lockdown began many people, particularly the most vulnerable, have been pushed into unsustainable debt. But this isn’t a new problem, and more needs to be done to tackle our country’s personal debt crisis.

This May, we have the opportunity to elect a record number of Co-operative candidates in my region and across the country. But we can only do that if we campaign for it.

Today, we mourn those we have lost to the pandemic, but we also recognise how we have endured.

From campaigns and events across our regions and nations, to our preparations for May’s elections where almost 90% of the country will be able to vote for a Co-operative candidate, the last few months have highlighted the difference our Party and movement can make.

As the pandemic has cruelly exacerbated existing inequalities and deepened divisions, our manifesto sets out the co-operative solutions for healing our capital through building common ground.

The values of the Fairtrade movement are at the heart of the co-operative movement and of the Co-operative Party in Wales. This Fairtrade Fortnight, it is more important than ever that we continue to champion these.