Archive for Michael Stephenson
No to banking bail-outs
Now is the time to re-mutualise our interests and adopt a collective approach, says former General Secretary Michael Stephenson in the latest edition of Fabiana, the journal of the Fabian Women’s Network. As the UN Land Rover pulled off the road the first thing I saw was a mass of children waving welcome signs. The Onambele Co-operative in [...]
Michael Stephenson to step down as General Secretary
Michael Stephenson announced today he is stepping down as General Secretary. Here is his letter to members. Colleagues, comrades, co-operators, I have told the NEC today that I will be standing down as General Secretary of the Co-operative Party in the coming months. After nearly four years in the job I believe it is the [...]
Annual Conference decision on Party membership fees for 2012 and 2013
At the recent Co-operative Party Annual Conference delegates considered and agreed the following; The standard annual membership fee be £20 in 2012 and £25 in 2013. Under this proposal the £5 first-year membership rate for Youth members will be retained, as this has been a very successful tool for bringing much-needed new members into the [...]
Sewn Up: a Co-operative Party international campaign
General Secretary Michael Stephenson announces our new campaign to support a women’s co-operative in South Africa – Sewn Up. During my trip to South Africa last summer, I visited a number of co-operatives in Ivory Park, a township near Johannesburg. The one that really inspired me was the Kopano Women’s Sewing Co-operative. Like the other [...]
Public sector mutuals are a good idea but the coalition just don’t get it
The announcement by Francis Maude yesterday that the coalition government wants to set up mutuals to run our public services is typical of what’s wrong with Cameron and Clegg’s ramshackle regime. On one level the plan seems a good idea – to give people who work in public services the opportunity to run those services. Indeed, [...]
A real version of mutualism for the left
Forged in the values of the left, and with a long and considerable track record of success, mutualism is an idea whose time has come back In recent years mutualism has become one of the most badly-used expressions in political debate. On the right, it has been both exploited for short term political gain by [...]
The challenge for the Co-operative Party – reclaiming our rightful place at the heart of the labour movement
I have been inundated with messages in recent days from people telling me how pleased they were to see a Co-operative Party membership application form included in their Labour leadership ballot papers. It is good that 180,000 Labour Party members now know who we are, understand that we are the sister party of Labour and [...]
Golden opportunity for Labour
Who remembers back in February when George Osborne laughingly tried to explain how a Conservative government would set up worker cooperatives to run public services? His excruciatingly awful attempt on the Today programme to answer some basic questions about how this would work in our schools allowed me to respond that day on TV and [...]
Tories are not the party of mutuality
Never mind Cameron’s ‘people power’ rhetoric – Labour has a track record of being true to the spirit of the Co-operative Party, writes Michael Stephenson For the Co-operative Party, having the Tories competing with Labour to give more power to ordinary people through mutuals and co-operatives might seem a good thing. Except that Conservative “people power” [...]
The feeling’s mutual
Co-operatives and mutuals offer the best model for the reform of public service delivery, says Michael Stephenson It was good to see media reports last week of the government’s genuine interest in the role of mutuals in the delivery of public services. This is something the Co-operative party has promoted throughout its 92 year history [...]
