It’s Heart Unions week, a time when we tell the stories of why unions are vital for everyone at work and encourage people who aren't yet in a union to join.

When a pub closes it can really rip out the heart of a neighbourhood. For many people in Walworth, South London, where I’m a councillor, the Beehive was the epitome of a community pub. Not just a place to grab a drink, but a place to meet neighbours, make new friends and hold landmark events from weddings to wakes.

Our membership is increasing, and with over 13,000 members we now have more than at any time in the Party’s history. With significant elections coming up, we’re putting ourselves in the best possible position to increase the size of our political representation.

In a parallel universe, the Government would have seized upon and rocket boosted co-operative principles and community power within a genuine ‘levelling up’ agenda. Instead, today’s long awaited Levelling Up White Paper doesn't do enough to put power back in the hands of people who need it most. 

It is vitally important that this LGBTQ+ History Month, we remember the rights we have won as a community and the sacrifices it took to get to this point. However, we must also remember that there is still so much further to go.

In the West Midlands we are so excited to be leading on or supporting others in pioneering new ways of bringing different agencies, community groups or organisations together to work more holistically and in a way that truly embodies co-operation.

The BBC licence fee is back in the news again. But the debate about whether to scrap it or not misses the fundamental value of the BBC to our culture, economy and way of life.

I’m delighted that the Co-operative Party launches a consultation on rural communities which will build on the excellent work that has already been done on Labour’s Rural England Policy Review, led by my Labour and Co-operative colleague Luke Pollard MP.

Government could –if it wanted to– make fan ownership a reality. Make no bones about it, Derby FC is in administration because of the structure of ownership which encourages owners to overstretch and a failed regulatory system