The NEC of the Co-operative Party is elected every three years, with the current members serving from June 2017-20. The NEC is also the Board of the Society, Co-operative Party Ltd. It normally meets quarterly.

The most recent meeting of the NEC was on March 3 and 4 in London. The main business of the March meeting each year is to receive the report of the Auditor on the previous year’s accounts and to approve the Board Report.

The next meeting will be the AGM of the NEC in Newcastle in June.

The Auditor was present to answer questions on the Audit Findings Report, after which the Board Report & Accounts were approved. These will be presented to the AGM in October.

The Annual Report, which supplements the formal Board and Accounts with details of the Party’s work in the past year, was reviewed in draft. This will be now be designed, printed and circulated to local parties and affiliates.

Following consultation with subscribing societies and affiliates, the Strategic Plan 2019-21 was agreed with some minor amendments. This will now be circulated to local parties with guidance on how it will be implemented.

The NEC had a comprehensive discussion on the recent resignations of four MPs from the Labour and Co-operative Parliamentary Groups.

It was agreed to give support to Jewish members of the Co-operative Group and to liaise closely with Jewish organisations in the movement; and to include on the agenda for the forthcoming meeting with the Labour Leader. The NEC also recognises the need to support our members and to provide advice and support to Party officers during the reselection process.

Jim McMahon MP and Anna Turley MP reported on recent work of the Co-operative Party Parliamentary Group including amendments, interventions and debates on many issues including the Water industry; offensive weapons (safety of shop-workers); agriculture; fisheries; rail and bus transport and the children’s funeral fund.

A number of our MPs visited co-op stores during USDAW’s recent Violence Against Shopworkers Week. A Populus poll commissioned by the Co-operative Party showed that 85% of voters agree that: “The government owes a duty of care to shopworkers who enforce important laws restricting the sale of certain items like alcohol, acid and knives” and support for “A tough new law to increase criminal sentences for anyone convicted of using threats or violence against a shopworker.”

The Group has also discussed opening meetings to other MPs who are members of the Party and to other interested parties. The Chief Executive Officer of the Fairtrade Foundation attended a recent meeting of the Parliamentary Group, to which all Labour MPs who are members of the Party were invited.

A request to endorse a Labour MP as a member of the official Co-operative Parliamentary Group was noted. The NEC reaffirmed our current long-standing policy not to ‘retrofit’ MPs but agreed to review at a future point.

Annual Conference this year will be 11^th-13^th October in Glasgow. Conference Arrangements Committee has approved the timetable for motions, delegate registration etc. – this will be circulated very shortly.

The NEC and CAC have also considered the remitted motion from Annual Conference 2018 that proposed setting aside time in Conference for issues that are not covered in the policy debates. A process for this, to be trialled for 2019, was agreed and this will also be circulated to parties and affiliates very soon.

The recent SDLP partnership agreement with Fianna Fáil and possible implications for the relationships between the SDLP and the Co-operative and Labour Parties was discussed by the NEC. It was agreed to add this to the agenda for the forthcoming meeting between the Chair, General Secretary & Jeremy Corbyn MP.

The NEC discussed recent developments,  and the work of the Party and members of the Parliamentary Group since the NEC phone conference in February. It was agreed that the Party should campaign for support for the People’s Vote March in London on 23 March.

The Party has also convened meetings between MPs and senior representatives from our subscribing societies to ensure that our parliamentarians are as fully briefed as possible on the impact of Brexit for our societies in the food and retail sectors.

The General Secretary gave an update on the new branding, launched on 1^st March. This has now been rolled out across all the Party’s publications and social media.

Local Parties have were invited to order their brand starter pack in January and very many of these have already been dispatched across the country. Party Officers can also access templates and logos here.

The Party continues to be one of the fastest growing parties in the UK, but we have ambitious targets to grow further over the coming years. 

We came very close to reaching 12,000 members in 2018, with 11,868 as at 31December. 1,436 members joined the Party in 2018 – the second-best year for recruitment in our modern history.

From late November, the Party ran a campaign alongside the Winter issue of the Pioneer to encourage members to increase their subscriptions. This resulted in the number of people on the Higher, 100 Club and 1917 Club rates almost doubling. This represents £5,500 in additional income over the next year.

• 34.7% of members are female, up from 34.1% in February 2018.
• 10.6% of members are aged 30 or under, up from 9.5% in February 2018

If you or your members have ideas for recruitment, particularly to increase diversity, please get in touch.

The General Secretary gave a full report to the NEC on recent work towards the Party’s strategic objectives. Items not covered elsewhere in this report included:

Marking the ‘firsts’ of the 1918 General Election

The House of Commons are exhibiting a portrait of Alfred Waterson, commissioned by the Central England Co-operative Society, to mark the centenary of the election of the first Co-operative Party MP in December 1918. The Co-operative Party also jointly hosted an event in Parliament with the History of Parliament Trust in January that explored this and other firsts in 1918. The event was filmed by the BBC Parliament Channel.

Charter Against Modern Slavery Reaches 80 Signatures

The Co-operative Party-led Charter Against Modern Slavery continues to gain signatures, surpassing 80 Councils signing up to it.

Police and Crime Commissioner elections

The General Secretary has written to all Labour Police and Crime Commissioners that are members of the Co-operative Party to invite them to consider seeking endorsement as a Labour & Co-operative candidate at the next election.