The Co-operative Party

Parliamentary Officer Joe Fortune considers yesterday’s Queen’s Speech but sees little good news for co-operatives. Following the local election results, the Coalition Government briefed that they were ready to re-launch their partnership for power. The subsequent Queen’s Speech was to act as the clarion call for the Government’s priorities for the coming legislative term. The fifteen [...]

Last Wednesday, co-operators gathered in Westminster with Labour's Shadow Housing Minister to discuss Labour & Co-operative MP Jonathan Reynolds’ private members bill on co-operative housing tenure, reports Daniel Carey-Dawes.

Whilst the UK’s housing stock only comprises of 0.6% co-operative housing, the European average is 15% with some countries such as Turkey and Norway having as much as 25% of housing being owned and run by co-ops. This country is one of the few that does not recognise co-operative housing in law. That’s why we [...]

Parliamentary Officer Joe Fortune rounds up the latest from Parliament with the work of Co-operative Parliamentarians. This regular column will briefly round up some of the important or noteworthy pieces of Parliamentary activity and business for co-operators each week. It will highlight the work being done by Co-operative Party MPs and co-operators in Westminster. Of [...]

Today the Co-op Party meets against a backcloth of rising prices for gas and electricity. As the temperature drops, millions will start to see their energy prices spiral out of their reach. They will face the terrible choice between staying warm and running up debts, and turning off the heating despite plummeting temperatures. Those on [...]

Meg Hillier MP, Shadow Energy & Climate Change Secretary and Chair of the Co-operative Parliamentary Group, gave a speech to BusinessGreen tonight. In her speech, Meg outlined Labour’s commitment to a green economy and green jobs, reducing energy dependence and helping people with rising energy prices. She advocated renewables especially on-shore wind and, above all, [...]

The Co-operative Party is the second largest opposition party in parliament with 28 MPs. Each of them is, of course, also a Labour MP. As a group we are keen to bring our distinctive and radical policy agenda to help shape the policies of the current government and of the opposition. We have a talented [...]

Meg Hillier: In 2004 Robert Levy, aged 16, was killed in Hackney. His parents, Ian and Pat Levy, will be receiving support from the probation trust to help them give a victim statement at the parole hearing, which is due next year, but their rights are limited. There is no guarantee that they will appear in person and there will be no cross-examination of them about the impact on their lives. Will the...

Meg Hillier: I do not know whether my hon. Friend has the same problem in his constituency as I have in mine, but, with the housing benefit cap, many of my constituents, including working families and those with children, are being forced out of their homes and I am not sure where in London they can go to find accommodation at the right level in the private sector. Surely this too is a concern and rather...

Meg Hillier: I am pleased to present this petition, which is signed by 10 businesses in Hackney South and Shoreditch-the signatures are fewer in number than those for the previous petition, but these businesses are sorely affected by their precise location close to the Olympics zone, and face considerable disruption to their activities before and during the Olympics and Paralympics. Because of that,...

Meg Hillier: rose-

Meg Hillier: In the constituencies of Newcastle upon Tyne Central and Hackney South and Shoreditch, and in many other constituencies up and down the country, applications have been put in for free schools-bids for taxpayers’ money with which to run a school for children. When will the Secretary of State publish the financial plans that those schools have submitted, or will he continue with the...

Meg Hillier: What plans he has for the London 2012 Olympics media centre after the games.

Meg Hillier: Before the hon. Gentleman moves from the issue of small businesses, may I ask whether he has spoken to business people in his area about the possibility of a cross-Government body looking at small business administration to make sure that different Government policies do not have perverse outcomes, which Governments of all parties ought to consider?

Meg Hillier: Will the Minister update the House on the progress and uptake of gang injunctions and, in the light of that update, advise us on whether the Home Office is reconsidering its plan to abolish antisocial behaviour orders, which also have a role to play in tackling gang culture?

Meg Hillier: I recently visited a number of apprentices in my constituency in apprenticeship week, and I commend the work of Hackney community college in this respect. Interestingly, the apprentices were doing training courses, but a lot of them had no real prospect of a job at the end of their apprenticeship. What can the Secretary of State say about the Government’s plans to convert...

Meg Hillier: I have here a letter to the Prime Minister from Dr Clare Highton and Dr Haren Patel, the chairs of City and Hackney clinical commissioning group, who say that they want “to add our voice to the call for the Bill to be withdrawn.” Does my right hon. Friend agree that that underlines his point about the wide range of people who want it to be dropped?

The expected quashing of Sam Hallam’s conviction is great news for him, his family and supporters. But it raises serious concerns about police processes. These need to be investigated thoroughly and I will be pressing Government and the Metropolitan Police to conduct a full investigation

Meg has called on the Government to do more to help struggling businesses. She said the Queen’s Speech ‘ does little to tackle economic problems and I am particularly concerned for the businesses in my constituency and unemployment’

Meg Hillier expressed her disappointment after the Co-operatives consolidation Bill was dropped from the Queen’s speech. Meg said in the debate on the Queen’s speech, ‘The previous Government did a great deal to change the law on co-operatives and to provide new legislation that made it easier to set them up, but as that was done piecemeal through different Acts of Parliament, there was room to bring it together’

The finance bill, House of Lords reform, the Queen’s speech, trip to Nigeria

I have now recieved a reply from Chloe Smith MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury regarding the Beer Duty Escalator. Please click into the article to see the full response.

I have now recieved a reply from Norman Lamb MP, Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs regarding the Groceries Code Adjudicator. Please click in to see the full response