The Co-operative Party at Labour Party Conference
The Co-operative Party has a varied programme at Labour Party Conference in Manchester this year, part of our celebration of the UN International Year of Co-operatives. Please check for updates.
7.30-9pm Monday 1 October
Manchester Central Exchange 1
The Co-operative Party and Movement for Change
Campaign to end legal loansharking
A training event in how to end legal loansharking using community organising
Places limited. Email office@movementforchange.org.uk to book your spot at this event.
Speakers:
- Stella Creasy MP, Labour & Co-operative MP for Walthamstow
- Kathryn Perera, Movement for Change
- Karin Christiansen, the Co-operative Party (tbc)
7.30-9pm Tuesday 2 October
Manchester Central Exchange 10
Campaigning Co-operative Councillors
How councillors can use co-operative values to make a difference for their community
- Cllr Sharon Taylor, Deputy Leader, LGA Labour Group
- Cllr Florence Nosegbe, Lambeth Co-operative Council
- Cllr Duncan Enright, Labour & Co-operative councillor, Witney East
- Lord Steve Bassam, Opposition Chief Whip, House of Lords
- Chair: Karin Christiansen, General Secretary, the Co-operative Party
12.45 – 2.15, Wednesday 3 October
Manchester Central Exchange 1
Education: Taking a lesson from Co-operation
- Stephen Twigg MP, Shadow Education Secretary
- Ashley Simpson, Reddish Vale Co-operative Trust founding Member & campaigner
- Mervyn Wilson, Principal Director, Co-operative College
- Chair: Karen Wilkie, the Co-operative Party
The Co-operative Party will also be holding its Annual Conference Reception, kindly supported by the Co-operative Group, in aid of Lend with Care on Tuesday evening.
The reception is strictly ticket only. Tickets are non-transferable. For more information please email conference@party.coop
Tags for this article: Co-operative Party, co-operative trust schools, councillors, education, events, Labour Party, local government, Movement for Change, schools
As a long-standing member of a housing co-op (and a lifelong Labour-voter) I’m cheered by the Labour Party’s current interest in developing co-operative initiatives in areas of need. However I find it difficult to believe in the sincerity of this when Lambeth Council—Labour’s flagship ‘co-operative council’—is actively seeking to destroy local co-ops which have been quietly dealing with the effects of homelessness in the borough for decades.
I’ve been a member of Rectory Gardens Housing Community in Lambeth for more than thirty years. The co-op itself has been in existence since the early eighties. It and other long-established co-ops in Lambeth are being threatened with eviction and with huge legal fees if they dare to defend their homes in court—as well as retrospective ‘occupation charges’ which may be in excess of £30,000. The residents of housing co-ops in Lambeth are usually on low or very moderate incomes and include children, pensioners and the disabled. They are now under threat of being forced from the homes they have repaired and maintained for nearly four decades. Well-established and very supportive communities are currently being broken up and dispersed by a policy which one opposition councilor likened to the Highland Clearances.
We are defending ourselves with very few resources and are up against Lambeth’s expensive (and very aggressive) legal team. The council and its leader Cllr Steve Reed have refused to consider more constructive alternatives such as the formation of a Lambeth-wide housing co-op, an idea supported by a few independent-minded councillors and also our MP Kate Hoey. This is despite Clr Reed’s promise of ‘an end to the ‘council knows best’ attitude’ in his most recent press release.
I am writing to you and other members of the co-operative movement who are attending the Labour Party Conference. This is primarily to raise an issue which is receiving very little coverage in the press. Please get in touch if you would like more information. You could also if you have time take a look at http://www.lambethunitedhousingco-op.org.uk/ which explains the aims of our proposed co-op.
Best Regards,
Stephen Blanchard.