One member has resigned from the NEC prior to attending their first meeting. As the elections to the NEC were recent and well contested, the NEC has agreed to appoint the next highest placed candidate in that section rather than hold a by-election.  Paul Sweeney MSP has therefore been invited to join the NEC as one of the two members representing Labour and Co-operative elected members on the NEC.

Since the first meeting of the NEC in June, the Co-operative Group has appointed Zach Evans to fill one of two places reserved for tCG on the NEC.

Initial feedback from Annual Conference in September has been very positive, with over 1,000 members and supporters attending on-line. For members who were not able to join live, Conference can be viewed here –  Co-operative Party Conference 2023 – Co-operative Party.

There were no organisational or emergency motions submitted but delegates did vote to adopt the Housing Policy document and to approve a rule change (see here) and membership subscriptions for 2024.

The NEC proposed the following membership subscriptions for 2024.  These were put to Annual Conference for confirmation in September and approved.

Notes on how increases are applied:

• The increase is rounded to the nearest 5p and added to our standard monthly rate.
• The reduced income rate is fixed at £1 per month below the standard rate.
• The optional solidarity rate is fixed at £2 per month above the standard rate.
• The annual rates are 12 x monthly rates, rounded to the nearest 5p.
• The youth rate is linked to Labour’s youth rate and will see no increase in 2024.
• The fundraising clubs are optional fixed donations, so no inflation rises are applied.

Each quarter, the General Secretary reports to the NEC on the Party’s activity and progress towards our Strategic Objectives.

Here is a summary of the most recent report, in September.

Co-operative Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) work

The Party’s work developing its support for its official PPCs has begun in earnest. It is our strategic aim to provide new improved support. To that end the Party has:

• Collated campaign information from each PPC via survey.
• Held follow up one-to-one meetings with the PPCs and the General Secretary.
• Begun digital training sessions where required.
• Developed the first campaign merchandise order for sending post conferences.
• Met with Labour Digital to access Co-op Candidate digital assessments to understand how the Party can play a useful role.
• Met with Labour Field Directors to develop national campaign days and candidate finances.
• Met with member Unions to assess shared candidate work and shared campaign days.
• Engaged with Labour Connect to ensure Lab/Co-op print templates are available from the Labour Party.
• Started to develop individual PPC plans.
• Delivered the candidate branding guidelines document.
• Using data from Co-ops UK we have gathered individual constituency data on local co-ops and started to distribute the information.
• Started to engage with Local Party Officers on fundraising and election spending plans.
• The Party has begun circulating policy briefs to candidates with standard shareable content.
• The Party has also developed a range of communications content with the PPCs, the results of which have been shared through the Party’s channels and included in local press, blogs, videos etc.

Local Election candidate 2024 build

The Party has begun its work to build a strong local election candidate group for 2024. Thus far we have had over 200 potential candidates join the Candidate Development Programme (CDP). In pursuit of this and in line with our other strategic objectives we have:

• Made assessment of areas of England where candidate growth opportunity exists and begun to make individual contact with relevant local gate keepers.
• The CDP training has begun, through a new partnership with the Campaign Co-operative we have delivered tailored training for a cohort of 40 candidates.
• Developed, planned and started delivering the wider programme.
• The Party has also developed the timeline and actions of the candidate recruitment. This has included improving our data on all non-Co-op Councillors up for election in 2024 and contacting each one.

New 2024 candidates

Since the last report we have added two more official Co-operative PPCs, listed below. The Party has also run a small number of other official selections where the Co-op candidate has not been successful in the final selection. The new official candidates are:

• Chris Vince, – Harlow
• Anna Turley – Redcar

Metro Mayors

Following a nationally supported selection meeting members in the North-East selected Kim McGuinness to be the Co-op candidate for the North East Metro Mayor.

PCCs

It is strategically important for the Party to select new Police and Crime Commissioner candidates and work with our existing ones well. The Party currently has those below as new or standing candidates for the PPC 2024 elections:

Dan Price – Cheshire

• Nicolle Ndiweni – Derbyshire
• Joy Allen – Durham
• Rory Palmer – Leicestershire
• Emily Spurrell – Merseyside
• Clive Grunshaw – Lancashire
• Paul Richards – Sussex
• Gary Godden – Nottinghamshire
• Andy Dunbobbin – North Wales
• Stanka Adamcova – Wiltshire

Labour Party National Policy Forum (NPF)

Since the last NEC report the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum held its final event in Nottingham and its work will be concluded with its reports being voted on at Labour Conference in Liverpool. The Party has worked consistently within the NPF for several years and overall, the Party has had some good results through the process. Through the course of the NPF the Party has:

• Committed resource to supporting the work of the ‘Stronger Together’ workstream.
• Contacted and briefed individual party members who were also NPF members.
• Contributed to each consultation round.
• Held a position on the overall Joint Policy Committee at the top of the NPF.
• Attended and presented to the Commissions to which the three Co-operative Party representatives were assigned to.
• Attended and worked to achieve policy amendments at the final NPF event in Nottingham.

Going into the final weekend the Party had achieved a range of inclusions within the final documents. These included but were not limited to:

• Double the size of the co-operative sector.
• Community Energy scheme references.
• Community right to buy
• Retail Crime

At the event the team worked hard to have a range of other policy areas included through the amendment process, these amendments included but again not limited to:

• Co-operative housing references
• Credit Unions
• Childcare
• Financial inclusion
• International Development
• Access to finance for alternative business models.

Labour Party Local Power Plan

The Party has worked with relevant shadow team members and Community Energy England over an extended period with the intention of achieving sister Party commitment to growing the Community Owned Renewable Energy sector. Since the last report this commitment has been achieved and the policy announced at the launch of the Labour Party’s Energy Mission in Edinburgh. The policy commitment is one of the biggest financial commitments the co-operative movement has had. It commits Labour to:

• Developing schemes so there are 1 million owners of energy in the UK
• Generating 8 gigawatt (equivalent of two power stations) of community owned energy.
• Committing GB Energy to playing an active and facilitating role in the development of the sector.
• Committing £1bn of spending to this endeavour through a mix of local council and community group spend which spans low-cost loans and grants.

Co-ops Bill into Law

Through the reporting period the Co-ops Bill, which contained a new voluntary asset lock for co-operatives passed its remaining stages and achieved Royal Assent. The Bill was championed by Mark Hendrick MP (Lab/Co-op) and Lord Kennedy (Lab/Coop). This piece of legislation bought forward by Co-operative Parliamentarians has been the first piece of specific co-operative legislation bought about through the life of the current Government.

Policy Partnership work

A strategic aim of the Party within the 3 year and year plan has been to develop more joint policy work with other organisations. In the last report I outlined a new piece of work the Party published with Social Enterprise UK titled: ‘Best place to set up an alternative business model’. As can be seen below the Party’s focus on this partnership has continued:

Labour Party ‘Social Economy’ Partnership work

Has co-hosted a Social Economy evening launch event with Shadow BIS SoS Lab/Co-op Jonathan Reynolds and Party Chair Jim McMahon. This event bought together 250 leaders of social economy organisations and served as a launch for a new policy consultation. The policy consultation was jointly developed and has been issued to the full event invite list. The next stage of this work will be roundtable events and a final report.

Public First Food Security Report

The General Secretary was on the advisory board of a research report issued by Public First on Food Security. Other organisations on the advisory board included NFU, Arla and the Trussel Trust. The report has been issued.

Levelling UP Report

The Party has contributed a chapter to ‘The Centre for Inequality and Levelling Up (CEILUP)’ latest pamphlet titled ‘How can Labour level up’. This pamphlet has had its Westminster launch.

Mike Hedges MS: Co-operative Housing policy document

The Party supported and promoted a Co-operative Housing document through Welsh members and elected representatives.

‘Rebuilding Policing and Criminal Justice’ policy paper launch

Following joint policy work between Co-operative Retail Societies, the Party and Co-operative Police and Crime Commissioners the Party launched its ‘Rebuilding Policing and Criminal Justice’ Paper. This was launched at the Party’s Local Government Conference and featured PCC Andy Dunbobbin at the launch.

Other activity in this pursuit of this strategic area

• The Party convened a Local Council ‘food champion’ event to discuss the creation of a network to share best practice and future collective action.
• The then Levelling Up Shadow Secretary of State Lisa Nandy addressed Co-op Congress highlighting the work of the Party, the Councillor growth and double the size of the co-operative sector.
• The Labour Party frontbench sought to amend the Energy Bill at report stage to force the Government to better promote Community Energy.
• Co-operative MP and then Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Florence Eshalomi MP bought amendments to the Procurement Bill which would have better enabled co-operatives and social enterprise to access public procurement processes.
• Co-operative MP and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Meg Hiller MP achieved a Westminster Hall Debate on Local Government’s role in co-operative development.
• Scottish Co-operative Party MSPs bought a Fairtax motion to the floor of the Scottish Parliament.
• Rhoda Grant MSP pressed the Scottish Government on its lack of support for Community Energy through the debate which followed the Government’s Programme of Government.
• The Party co-ordinated a Scottish Parliament roundtable with frontbench and Co-operative MSP on the topic of Community Energy.
• The GLA led by Co-operative GLA member Leonie Cooper and Unmesh Desai debated and passed motions on both Anti-Slavery and steps to tackle violence against retail workers.

Co-operative Party Conferences

Through the period since the last report there have been two national Co-operative Party national conferences:

Local Government Conference

Took place in the People’s History Museum in Manchester, a strong turn out from Councillors was combined by a strong programme with a range of fringes put on by external organisations. The Programme also featured speeches by metro mayors, councillor leaders and Angela Rayner MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Equalities Conference

This Conference titled: ‘Equalities at the Heart of Co-operation’ took place online. Over 300 members registered to attend. The well received programme was led by contributions from speakers including Anneliese Dodds MP and Harried Harman MP.

Co-op Live Sessions

Through the reporting period the Party has produced several high quality ‘Co-op Live’ sessions. These sessions have maintained the members attendance numbers at between 50-120 per session. Through this period there have been sessions focussed on

• Social Care – with Co-op Group, Equal Care Co-op and Leading Lives
• Community Energy – with Community Energy England and a range of local schemes
• Food Justice – with The Pantry, School Food Matters, Alice McDonald Co-op Party PPC.
• Fairtax – with the Fairtax Foundation and Councils who have passed the motion.

Local Government Co-operative Action

Fairtax Councils

The Party has continued to support Councils to adopt the Fairtax motion and become a Fairtax Council. Through the reporting period the Fairtax Foundation celebrated the 50^th Council achieving this mark. The Co-operative Party and Co-op Party Councillors have helped over 50% of these Councils to pass the motion. In the reporting period the Party has inspired Bolton, West Lancs, Hyndburn and Manchester Councils pass the motion.

Diverse Council Charter

Following the work the Party put in to the development and launch of the Diverse Councils charter, officers have been working with individual Councillors and Council Groups to pass the motion in the reporting period. Islington and Westminster Councils have passed the motion and it has been debated elsewhere in places such as Lancaster Council.

Great Homes Upgrade

The Party continues to support the development of community owned housing insulation. North Herts Council passed the Party’s motion on the issue and the Party has carried content from the Leader of Preston Council Matthew Brown whose Council has developed a retrofit Co-op.

Community Energy Campaign

Since Labour’s Local Power Plan announcement, the Party has sought to better underpin its member and supporter facing campaign on the issue. Whilst there is much more to come on this topic, since the last NEC report the Party has developed and launched a new online tool called the ‘Local Power Locator’ (www.party.coop/locator ). The Local Power Locator is currently an England only tool but allows the user to enter their postcode find the number and nature of community energy projects in their constituency then take an action calling on their local Member of Parliament to do more to raise the profile of the issue.

Retail Crime campaign

The Party has been developing a range of activity in relation to retail crime in line with the campaigning priorities of the subscribing societies. The Co-operative Group has addressed the Westminster Parliamentary Group on the issue. The Party has been carrying content from newly selected Police and Crime Commissioner candidates and publishing articles on websites such as LabourList on the issue. In the coming weeks and months there will be new activity in this area.

Other activity in pursuit of this strategic objective:

• Separately the Fairtax Foundation attended and spoke at the Westminster Parliamentary Group.
• The Party had a presence at the Plunkett Foundation conference.
• The Party had a presence at the Co-operatives UK youth event.
• The Party supported CCH (Confederation of Co-operative Housing) 30^th Anniversary Westminster Reception.
• The Party had a presence at the Co-operative Congress

Membership and Support list growth

The NEC received a separate membership report that showed that the retention work of the Party has improved towards our stated objectives. That combined with steady national recruitment is taking the Party’s membership number towards our target. However, the Party will need a very strong last four months to get to our aim.

The team are also seeking to grow the supporter list in line with our year plan. This area has seen a lot of hard work from the team. Whilst we are not where we want to be in terms of supporter recruitment, the learning we have been undertaking should put us in good place for the remaining months of the year.

New Society recruitment

Staffing changes will mean we have to revisit our recruitment work in the near future, however the Party has continued to offer online P6 events through the reporting period. The Party has also continued to platform non-member co-operatives.

Summer School and Officer Training

The Party has provided several training opportunities to newer and existing members as well as sessions to upskill our branch officers. Our annual summer school took place with sessions for newer members including ‘Co-op Party 101’, ‘Making the most of your membership’ and ‘Sister Parties: Working with Labour’. Other national training sessions have included retention training for branch officers as well as tech training for officers on how to hold a branch meeting online.

Additional regional sessions have been held by Organisers including branch officer drop ins, regional forums for branch officers and local government recruitment sessions. Following staff changes which resulted in reorganisation of regional support, meetings with local Party officers have been taking place to ensure continued support.

Local Party activity

Although Party meetings in the main haven’t been taking place over the summer break, a wide variety of Party activity has continued to be supported. This has included work on Party Council development plans, putting in place plans for the direction and activity of the Party Council over the next two years. In addition, high profile community and movement events such as the Plunkett Foundation Conference, Tolpuddle Martyrs (which was sadly rained off) and the Durham Miners’ Gala have all seen a local Party presence with support from the organising team.

Network activity

Following committee elections each network worked with the Party Equalities Officer to set a plan of activity for the coming year. Activity in the summer has included the LGBTQ+ network supporting local Party presence at several Pride events with materials and merchandise, and the BAME network held an in-person event to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month in Parliament. Additional events have included policy discussions for each network and other online activity. The Youth network concluded their elections and staff supported recruitment with activity packs sent out to encourage recruitment at Freshers Fayres and the North West have set up a youth network of their own.

Local Buzz

The Party newsletter for Party Officers and activists has been revamped. After reviewing feedback this has been separated with a Party Officer version ‘National Buzz’ going out every other month featuring compliance and regulatory asks of officers, whilst the alternate month features ‘Local Buzz’ which comes from the relevant Organiser and includes more information from that area with activity.

Society AGMs

Since the last report the remaining Subscribing Society AGMs have happened. The Party had a presence at each, for example, at Midcounties Society AGM, the General Secretary spoke on the main stage. Each of the Society votes on continued membership passed with good majorities.

Electoral Commission

In the run up to the next General Election the 365 days prior to the election itself are classed as a regulated period with any spending incurred in support of our candidates requiring reporting. In addition to this the Elections Act 2022 brought in new changes which will have a direct impact on our activity. In recent months Party staff have been meeting directly with the Electoral Commission to ensure these changes are fully understood and adhered to for any forthcoming elections. In addition to this Party Staff have held briefing sessions for colleagues and for Party Council Officers – further briefings will be held and will be mandatory for Party Council Officers.

CPDC

The elections for the Co-op Party Disciplinary Committee took place alongside the NEC elections earlier this year finally concluding over the summer. Since these have concluded audits of existing experience has taken place and an initial onboarding session has been held for new members to ensure they are fully briefed on expectations and the support available to them.

Training

Meetings with external training partners have taken place with training sessions on recognising sexual harassment and antisemitism commissioned to take place for the NEC and CPDC before the end of the year.

Other activity in this area

• Online AGM
• Annual accounts sent to the Electoral Commission
• Quarterly donation reports sent to the Electoral Commission

Summary

• Our total individual membership at 30 June 2023 was 13,073.
• Including affiliates, our total membership stood at 13,090.
• Total recruitment for the first half of the year was 963, this includes both new joiners and those who re-joined after being lapsed.
• Our total subscribed supporter list (those with valid and opted-in emails) at the end of June 2023 stood at around 80,000. Converting supporters to members is our main recruitment source. We continue to gain our greatest share of new members through a diverse range of targeted ‘Join Asks’.
• Membership income for first half of the year was just over £291,000.
• In 2023 we are still on track to finish the year with just under 14,000 members and around net 800 new members.
• From September, we should return to net growth after the loss incurred from the Spring 2023 lapses.
• For the duration of 2023 we will be looking at ways to increase both local recruitment and expand our national email supporter list, which is by far the biggest source of new member recruitment.

Membership Income

• While funding from the Co-op Group has fallen, income from individual members continues to grow each year and is forecast to reach more than 37% in 2023.
• Increases in membership income have been driven by consistent recruitment and retention, and small annual inflationary rises.
• Membership income for the first half of 2023 was around £291,400.
• Membership income has topped £30,000 for every month this year.
• February’s figure of over £126,000 was the highest ever for that month.
• Just over 14% of members now give an additional amount either per month or per year on top of their chosen rate, either through a Club rate or effective donation with a regular rate. For new 2023 members this rises to almost 18%, mainly through the Solidarity rate.
• These additional donations help subsidise lower reduced income rate, while also allowing the Party to invest in delivering our campaigns and strategy.

Membership Demographics

• Equality questions are now part of our core forms, giving us accurate data on new members, and building data on existing members.
• Our recruitment has improved significantly across all equalities groups since we first reported, building a more representative Party membership (all in % of 100):
  • 2 of new members and 8.2 of all members are BAME
  • 5 of new members and 11.9 of all members are disabled
  • 9 of new members and 7.1 of all members are LGBTQ+
  • 7 of new members and 38.7 of all members are Women
  • 6 of new members and 9.1 of all members are aged 14-30 (Youth)
  • 2 of new members and 0.5 of all members are non-Binary
  • Proportions of all the demographics have increased since the last quarter as we gain more data from new members and existing members.
• Almost 40% of new members are women, and the percentage of members in the Youth category continues to increase, as a much larger portion if newer members are in the Youth category than in the membership as a whole.
• For members applying to the local government candidate development programme we introduced a “caring responsibilities for young children” tab to the questionnaire so we can help with accessibility issues for potential candidates and meetings in terms of Zoom times, creche facilities at in person meetings etc. So far, we have had about 202, or 1.5% of all members who have declared this. For members who have joined in 2023 this rises to 40, or 4.2% of all new members

See here for details of the NEC. You can contact your NEC representative via the link on that page or by emailing Karen Wilkie, Board Secretary at board@party.coop.