A pleasure once again to address the Co-operative Party’s annual conference as party Chair in central London this weekend.
This year’s theme is our ongoing flagship campaign: Community Britain, exploring how we can put communities at the centre of politics and shape a fairer, more democratic country with people in the driver’s seat.
This government committed at the election to doubling the size of the co-operative sector and we are acting to make this happen, whether its community energy policy as part of the new publicly-owned energy company GB Energy, a strengthened Community Right-to-Buy in the English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill to enable communities to safeguard heritage and secure important local assets; or community-led housing being boosted in our drive to build 1.5 million more homes. And it was a moment to reflect on how our campaign with the Co-op and Usdaw to end violence against shop workers has now made it into law as a standalone offence.
Great to see co-operators from across trade unions, government, party branches and the wider co-operative & mutual sector, thanks for coming along.
Thank you to all the team for a fantastic job well done!
Jim McMahon OBE MP 