Paul Sweeney MSP attended his first NEC meeting as one of the two representatives of Labour and Co-operative elected members.

After the November meeting, we also received formal notification from the Co-operative Group of the appointment of Sarah McCarthy-Fry as the second of their two representatives on the NEC.

You can find details of the full NEC 2023-26 here.

At the meeting in November, the NEC was pleased to welcome and approve the affiliation of Unison Labour Link to the Co-operative Party.

The General Secretary set out a detailed plan for the Party’s work in 2024, which the NEC welcomed and approved.

The Party’s work in 2024 will be dominated by the General Election, although the exact timing of this is unknown.  This will mean changes to usual business in 2024, for example, moving from regional conferences to campaign days and amending the format for Annual Conference.  The member-led policy process will be suspended as the Party launches its policy platform for the General Election.  Local Government Conference is likely to be on-line so as not to detract from campaigning.

Aside from this however, we will continue to:

• Maintain a strong programme of work that demonstrates our value to member societies
• Give value for individual members
• Increase our candidates and activity ahead of the 2024 local elections
• Build our policy influence and candidates ahead of the 2026 Scottish & Welsh Parliament elections
• Deliver strong Police & Crime Commissioner policy and election work
• Review the activity and operation of the Party’s equalities networks
• Review our organisational and membership schemes

Following changes to the structure of the NEC from June 2023, a change to the Model Rules for Regional Parties is required to recognise that there are now two NEC representatives in each region in England.

The Model Rules for Society Parties have also been amended slightly, at the request of the Electoral Commission, to make the rule on contracts more explicit.

Both changes were approved by the NEC.  They will be updated on the website shortly but if you require a copy in the meantime, please contact Emma Foody, Assistant General Secretary – e.foody@party.coop.

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

Detailed work on towards the Party’s Objectives is set out in the Strategic Plan 2022-24.  2024 is the final year of the current three-year plan, which will be reviewed by the NEC for 2025-27 when it meets for its strategy weekend in June.

Here is a summary of the report to the NEC in November:

Co-operative Party Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) work

The work of the Party with its PPCs continues to grow. In addition to the last report which showed that some of the basic building block of our work had been put in place,  in the period of this report the Party has:

• Facilitated store co-op store visits before and through respect for retail workers week.
• Sent candidates local Co-operative Party membership recruitment materials.
• Delivered to each candidate large campaign merchandise packs.
• Delivered candidates campaign packs on key Party campaigns.
• Completed the one-to-one meetings.
• PPCs have enjoyed increased profile within our communication channels.

New Official PPCs

Since the last report the Party has added Jackie Jones as an official Co-op candidate for Ceredigion Preseli. This has bought the Party’s official PPC numbers to 18. The Party has also conducted further unofficial selections across the country.

2024 Local Candidate Build

The Party has continued to build its Local Election candidates team and now has some 280 candidates in the Candidate Development Programme. The Candidate Development Programme has restarted in earnest with a range of sessions taking place in the period of reporting.

The Party has also written to sitting Councillors to aid our retention and has started to target some of the areas of potential increase with individual contact.

Metro Mayors

Since the last report the Party has added a further Metro Mayor candidate in the Tees Valley. Chris McEwan joins Kim McGuinness and Richard Parker as new Co-operative Party Metro Mayoral Candidates.

The last reporting period was a busy time within this strategic objective. It was a period where the Party completed its NPF work, had significant policy wins such as the Local Power Plan and issued joint policy work with a range of organisations amongst much more.

Joint Labour Party/Co-operative Party Social Economy work

The Party completed a consultation with the Labour Party on the Social Economy’s needs from a new Labour and Co-operative Government. The consultation focused on:

• The Social Economy’s contribution to Labour’s industrial strategy
• The Social Economy’s needs from new capital raising powers and instruments
• The Social Economy’s contribution to good work.

Following the consultation period, the Party has begun several private roundtables with frontbench Labour figures to discuss the evidence gathered through the consultation. The first of these events with Jonathan Reynolds MP included representatives from co-ops, Social Enterprises and umbrella organisations.

Further events are scheduled through to the end of the year.

Community Power Report with New Local

Through the period the Party helped launched a joint report with New Local and 7 Labour Council leaders on Community Power. The report can be read here: A Labour Vision for Community Power: Participation, prevention and devolution – New Local

King’s Speech

Following the Government’s King’s Speech, the Party worked hard to have solid Co-operative Party responses. This was most visible in Westminster where:

• Party Chair Jim McMahon MP delivered a full speech on what a Co-operative King’s Speech would have included
• Stephen Doughty MP, Meg Hillier MP and Rachel Maskell MP all also raised Co-operative Party content on issues such as Commonhold, football governance, housing and modern slavery.

Other work in support of this strategic objective

• With online communications (both social media and emails), meetings with the Parliamentary and Co-op Live sessions, the Party supported new policy and research from both the Employee Ownership Association and the Plunkett Foundation.
• The First Minister of Wales spoke in support of the overall UK work to double the size of the co-operative sector in the Parliament and pointed to the steps the Welsh Government were taking in pursuit of their own sector’s growth.

Co-operative Party Conference

Through the reporting period the Party completed its online Annual Conference titled: ‘Ambition for Change’. Over 1300 attended (watched) the conference with the online content being used to generate online traffic since the event.

It was online with a wide range of pre and post events happening via zoom – these events included the Parliamentary reports and events from each equalities network. The main day’s Saturday programme was delivered live in a studio setting which provided a modern vibrant feel to the event.

The conference included:

• 3 new full length feature videos from locations around the country on three of the priority areas of the work of the Party; Local Ownership, double the size of the co-operative sector and community owned renewable energy.
• Speakers including but not limited to Jonathan Reynolds (Shadow SoS BEIS), Angela Rayner (Dep Lab Leader and SoS for Levelling Up), Ed Miliband MP (Shad SoS for Energy Security), Vaughan Gething (Welsh Government Finance Minister), Miatta Fahnbulleh (Co-op PPC and Economist), Sarah Boyak MSP (shadow Energy Minister), Kim McGuinness (NE Metro Mayor candidate), CEOs of Power to Change and community energy England.
• The Sunday had the member led policy debates but also had contributions from non-member co-operatives, Co-op Group and many more campaign groups.
• Conference content was carried on Sky, featured in politico and achieved a range of newspaper coverage (including Guardian, I) as a result of comments from conference speakers.

Labour Party Conference

The Party attended the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool and through the conference the Party:

• Held three, well attended and professionally delivered, fringe events with partner organisations (Social Enterprise UK, Co-ops UK, Labour Coast and Country, New Local, Power to Change) on:
  • Growing the social economy.
  • Co-operative approaches in rural policy
  • Local community power.

The Party’s Officers also took part in a range of other fringes and roundtables. The Chair of the Party shared a platform with the CEO of the Co-operative Group on the topic of social mobility.

• Held a private breakfast event with Co-operative Party Police and Crime Commissioners, Co-op Group and Shadow Policing Minister on the topic of retail crime and violence.
• Ran a stall recruiting members, supporters and selling Party merchandise (as well as providing a place for elected representative and member campaign board pictures.
• Ran a WhatsApp group alerting those who wished to join about what co-operative activities and campaigns were happening at the conference.
• Delivered the fraternal greetings to the Conference – with the speech centring upon the four key areas of work for the Party and areas of policy agreement with the Labour Party.
• The Party had content from the main platform from the GS, AGS, policy content from Ed Miliband MP and Yvette Cooper MP.

Party Equalities Conference

Through the reporting period the Party held the Equalities Conference. This was an online conference and featured a range of panel discussions and an ‘in conversation’ piece between Anneliese Dodds MP and Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP on the topic of the Equalities Act.

Co-op Party Live sessions

Through the period the Party has conducted 4 co-op live sessions, these sessions have included:

• Housing: featuring speakers on Commonhold campaigns, Co-op Party PPCs, Labour Housing Group and think tanks.
• Football: featuring the Fair Game campaign, Football Supporters Association and speakers from the co-operative movement.
• Black History Month event.
• Retail crime.

Retail crime and violence Campaign

The Party has sought to strengthen its focus on the retail crime and violence campaign in recent months. Working with USDAW, Co-operative Societies and the Co-operative Party Shadow Policing Minister, the Party helped contribute towards the Shadow Home Secretary’s policy announcement at Labour Conference. This saw the Labour Party commit to introducing a separate offence of retail crime (much like the Scottish version) and withdrawing the £200 limit on which police will investigate retail crime. This was a significant win. In the reporting period the Party also:

• Generated a letter to the Home Secretary asking the Government to match Labour’s commitment. This was led by all official Co-operative Party PPCs. The letter was:

• • At the time of writing jointly signed by 3,000 members and supporters.
  • It has been circulated to all Co-op Group employees.
  • Signed by board members of the independent retail societies, Group CEO and metro Mayors such as Andy Burnham.
  • The letter has been distributed to the Co-op Group’s members.
  • Co-branded with USDAW.

• The Party was represented at USDAW’s Parliamentary launch of the respect for retail workers week.
• A new members’ briefing on the campaign has been generated and circulated through the Party.
• Shadow Policing Minister and Co-op MP Alex Norris used the opportunity of Home Office Questions to raise the issue and campaign. He also attended and spoke at a Central Co-op Colleagues conference.
• A Co-op Live members event with Central Co-op, Co-op Group and Co-op PPCs was delivered through the reporting period.
• Retail Crime policy announcement Facebook and twitter graphics were generated for and circulated to new PPCs.
• The Party has run Facebook ads on this campaign work.
• The Party’s PPCs, Parliamentarians and Police and Crime Commissioners (35/40 elected and prospective representatives have been included) have been carrying out Co-op Store visits. The Party has covered a number of these visits and has produced online content of the events. These visits have also led to a range of local media coverage.
• The Party has carried content from Daniel Johnson (Lab/Co-op) MSP who has generated coverage for his continued work on the campaign following his Private Members Bill.

Community Energy Campaigning work

Following on from the policy announcement from the Labour Party on the ‘Local Power Plan’ the Party has been focused on raising profile and support for the policy. In addition to the previously reported Labour Party platform coverage of the issue from the General Secretary, Shadow Secretary of State and Assistant General Secretaries the Party has:

• Produced a joint letter for Labour and Labour/Co-op Cllrs to co-sign and send to the Secretary of State. This letter has been circulated by the Labour LGA and within the Councillor WhatsApp group and emails.
• The General Secretary had articles carried by the New Statesman and LabourList on the issue.
• Scottish Energy Minister and Co-op MSP Sarah Boyak MP raised the campaign and policy through Scottish Parliamentary debate and through media appearances.
• The Party Chair Jim McMahon MP spoke at a Community Energy England reception in London. This was an event which bought together the sector and provided a good opportunity to platform the work of the Party within Labour Party policy development.
• Jim McMahon MP asked a Treasury Oral Question on the campaign and issue.
• The Labour Party frontbench carried amendments through the Energy Bill (now Act) on community energy and the Local Power Plan.
• A new member and local party campaign pack has been generated and distributed through the Party.

Other work in support of this strategic objective

• The General Secretary had an opinion piece carried in ‘The lead’ magazine on the issue of Modern Slavery.
• The Party issued a ‘call to action’ on the topic Local Ownership, this generated 3,500 new supporters for the campaign.
• The Global Chair of ARUP presented to the Parliamentary Group on the advantages of being Employee Owned.

Member training

The Party has provided several training opportunities for members and officers over the last quarter. Nationally there has been retention training and tech training for officers to support holding online meetings. Regional Organisers have hosted a variety of sessions including Branch officer drop ins, regional forums and local recruitment sessions. Feedback from attendees has been very positive.

Local Party activity

Local Parties have received a series of briefings and campaign packs to support them in holding meaningful meetings towards Christmas. This has included briefings and sessions on Community Energy, Retail Crime and Local Ownership.

Additionally, with the CLP reorganisation following the final report from the Boundary Commission, Organisers have been supporting local Parties to ensure Co-operative delegations attend inaugural AGMs. A briefing has been provided to support officers and additional work with CLP Secretaries is taking place.

Network activity

Equalities Conference was held in mid-September with positive feedback on the content and sessions. Black history month saw blogs and activity to support Party activity around it. The North West is trying to establish a regional Youth network and Greater Manchester are hosting a women’s event for their members shortly, with much work and planning having taken place.

Chris Herries Development Programme

Our final event for the Chris Herries Development Programme took place at the beginning of the month, in person, hosted by UNISON. This is the first year we have partnered with LWN to help deliver and we will be taking time to assess the feedback of graduates of the course content and structure before looking to advertise for another intake.

 Other activity in support of this strategic objective

•  The Autumn copy of the Pioneer was delivered to all members. The issue featured pieces from Co-op PPCs, Ed Miliband MP and co-operative movement figures.
• Jim McMahon attended and spoke at the Co-op Group National Members Committee.
• The General Secretary presented to the Central Co-op Board.
• The Party carried out its bi-annual Subscribing Societies meeting – it was hosted by the East of England Society.
• The Party SMS messaged every member it has mobile numbers for as part of a ’recruit a friend’ initiative.
• The Party has also piloted retention SMS messaging.
• The Co-operative Party supplied and had a video report shown at Central Co-op Half Yearly meetings.

Electoral Commission

A series of briefings have been held for Party Councils and branches to advise them of changes brought about in the Elections Act and how to remain compliant. The Party has completed its annual registration with the Electoral Commission and will be proving an updated constitution for the Electoral Commission to review after the issues it raised last year.

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.

The Westminster report was presented to the NEC by Preet Kaur Gill MP, Chair of the Co-operative Parliamentary Group. This is a summary of her report.

Over the recent period our Westminster activity has focused on our core campaigns which have been regularly raised with Government, alongside marking Respect for Shopworkers Week.

Community Energy

• The Party has been active in Westminster making the case for the expansion of community owned energy, one of our core policy commitments alongside the Labour Party ahead of the next General Election
• Following recent debates secured by Co-op Party representatives, representations were made during the King’s Speech debates on the Government’s lack of support for the community and co-operatively owned energy sector
• Ed Miliband pressed the Government from the Despatch Box on the absence of action around the lack of insulation efficiency in homes, and Labour’s plans for greater use of retrofit to address this
• In the same debate, Preet Kaur Gill similarly raised the issue of poor insulation, and Labour’s commitment to upgrade 19 million homes
• Also in response to the King’s Speech Simon Lightwood asked the Government to turbocharge community owned renewable energy sources in the UK
• Jim McMahon also challenged the Chancellor of the Exchequer during Treasury questions on the need to do more and to follow our shared commitment with the Labour Party to support the sector

Retail Crime

• Given the soaring rates of retail crime and incidents of violence, threats and abuse directed towards retail workers, the Party has been vocal in Westminster about the need for action from the Government
• Responding for the Opposition to the King’s Speech from the Despatch Box, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper reiterated the Labour Party’s commitment to a standalone offence for violence against retail workers and tackling this problem
• Jim McMahon challenged the Justice Secretary on the matter, raising the crisis experienced by retailers and asking for the Government to follow the commitment made by the Labour and Co-operative Parties
• The Party also marked USDAW’s Respect for Shopworkers Week, by supporting events in Westminster and MPs including Jim McMahon, Preet Kaur Gill, Jonathan Reynolds, Yvette Cooper, Meg Hillier, Anneliese Dodds, Simon Lightwood, and Shadow Policing Minister Alex Norris visit Co-op stores

Commonhold and Leasehold Reform

• Co-operative MPs have been engaged on issues around housing and the crisis facing many renters in particular
• Having previously held the Government to account on failing to bring forward promised proposals around renter’s reforms, MPs including Meg Hillier, Rachael Maskell, Stephen Doughty and James Murray pressed the Government to follow through on their commitment to end the leasehold scandal, with a greater role for commonhold in the sector

Co-operative Growth

• In a speech in the Commons, Party Chair Jim McMahon made the case for co-operative growth and supported the Party’s campaign to double the size of the co-operative sector
• Jim covered a range of changes the Government could make to support the co-operative sector, and outlined the missed opportunities the Government failed to seize in the King’s Speech to do so

Local Ownership

• Jim McMahon also called on the Government to support the Party’s campaign for greater local ownership of community assets
• In the Commons, Jim referenced the Labour and Co-operative Parties’ shared commitment to introducing a Community Right to Buy through a strengthened Localism Act that would give community groups the adequate time and support genuinely take ownership of the assets such as pubs and music venues in their communities

Fan Ownership in Football

• As the Government finally announced the long-awaited legislation to introduce an independent regulator in football, we were keen to ensure that any consideration of reform considered the role of ownership in football that can genuinely make a difference to clubs
• As part of this Meg Hillier raised the matter in the House of Commons, and pressed the Government to support fan ownership to ensure their voices are heard in the way their clubs are run

Summary

• Our total membership as of 30 September was 13,326.
• Our total recruitment for the first half of 2023 stands at 1306 – this includes both new joiners and those who have re-joined after being lapsed.
• Our recruitment strategy continues to focus on growing the supporter list through a wide variety of public facing campaigns, off the back of local conferences and events and paid for social media.
• Our supporter journey sees a join ask sent a couple of times each month making use of a diverse group of members, representatives and issues to make the ask. The responses to these important emails constitute by far the largest source of new member recruitment.
• From the beginning of last year, we began to place stronger emphasis on membership retention, with more targeted emails and a letter to those who are at risk of lapsing in 2023, and those who have fallen into arrears.
• Our target is that we retain 80% of new members after the third year of membership and keep the retention rate of years 1 and 2 above 90%.
• 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. This will include the co-operation of local parties and branches, and a new emphasis on “ask a friend” initiatives through the telephone and email.

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 should see a record amount of the Party’s subscriptions come from sources other than the Co-op Group this year. A decade ago, Co-op Group funding amounted to 75.5% of the total. In 2023, we should see less than half, or around 49.5% of funding come from the Co-op Group.
• Increases in membership income have been driven by consistent recruitment and retention, and small annual inflationary rises.
• Membership income up to the end of September 2023 was around £385,000.
• 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.
• About 14.3% 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 19%, 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, including the ones for new members, member updates and since 2021 council candidate applications, 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:

• 4% of new members and 8.3% of all members are BAME
  • 7% of new members and 12.2% of all members are disabled
  • 5% of new members and 7.4% of all members are LGBTQ+
  • 1% of new members and 38.7% of all members are Women
  • 2% 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. This has consistently increased the overall percentages.
• 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 1.6% of all members who have declared this. For members who have joined in 2023 this rises to 3.4% 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.  The next scheduled meeting of the NEC will be in February.