Over 250 new Labour and Co-operative Councillors were elected last week, bringing the total of co-operators in local government to over 700 – a record high. The change was most marked with great results in London where 271 Co-operative Councillors were elected, including 39 in Greenwich alone.

Large numbers of Co-operative Councillors were also elected in Lambeth (22), Waltham Forest (21), and Lewisham (16). Lewisham also saw one of three new Labour and Co-operative Mayors elected alongside local Councillors. Damien Egan won with 54% of the vote in Lewisham, Rokhsana Fiaz won with 73% of the vote in Newham and Dan Jarvis MP became the first metro Mayor for South Yorkshire. They join co-operator Philip Glanville who was re-elected in Hackney with 66% of the vote.

The Co-operative Party is Labour’s sister party and the political party of the co-operative movement. It works to promotes co-operative models and mutual solutions where ordinary people have a voice and where services are accountable to the people who use them. “Labour and Co-operative Party” is registered with the Electoral Commission by both parties, as a joint description used by candidates standing on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. This is based on a long-standing electoral agreement between the two parties. Where they are elected, Labour & Co-operative councillors operate as any other Labour councillor, form part of a council’s Labour Group and take the Labour whip.

Jim McMahon MP, Chair of the Co-operative Parliamentary Party and Shadow Minister for Local Government, offered his congratulations:

“As a former Councillor, I know just how much work went into each and every campaign. It’s fantastic that we have strong Co-operative representation in local government, and I look forward to seeing the difference they make with their fresh ideas and energy in councils up and down the country.”

Claire McCarthy, the Co-operative Party’s General Secretary, added:

“We’re thrilled that so many Co-operatives were elected and want to make sure that they’re correctly identified on local authority websites and official documents. We expect councils to identify elected Labour & Co-operative Party Councillors accurately and will be writing to council chief executives to underline this point.”

The Co-operative Party is holding a ‘Being the Difference’ Conference in London on 9th June. Speakers include Cllr Georgia Gould (Leader of Camden), Cllr Matthew Brown (Leader of Preston) and the Rt Hon Alun Michael (South Wakes Police and Crime Commissioner).

In the run up to local elections, the Co-operative Party put forward 12 campaign ideas and issues to take on board including: supporting the local co-operative sector to grow, taking a stand against modern slavery, giving council tenants a louder voice, cracking down on rogue landlords, supporting new co-operative and community-led housing, and developing credit unions.