Policies
Media and broadcasting
The BBC is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world and a pillar of Britain’s cultural life. Yet with huge sums of money spent annually on services, the public deserves to have more of a say in the package of programs and services that are delivered. For the BBC to become truly accountable, all television [...]
Young people and families
By giving communities a sense of ownership over Sure Start services, youth centres and other community services, we can do more to help centres deliver to all those in need of their services, particularly ‘hard to reach groups.’ Co-operative structures also can play a role in encouraging working across different providers, and have the potential [...]
Social care
The Co-operative Party fully supports the principle that users and carers should be given as much control as they want over the services that they require. We welcome the movement towards direct payments and individual budgets, which have been extremely successful in changing the quality of care and quality of life of the people receiving [...]
Health
The NHS is Labour’s greatest achievement. But it is not great because of its long-standing management structures or governance arrangements – rather because it delivers health care free at the point of need, irrespective of the ability to pay. The reform of health institutions offers the prospect of maintaining this core value, whilst bringing health [...]
Trade Justice
The Co-operative Party believes that trade is the best tool in the fight against global poverty. Two areas are key to rebalancing the global trading system: fair trade and trade justice.International trade rules favour the most powerful countries, putting poor families and developing countries at a disadvantage. The Co-operative Party will work with governments to [...]
Fairtrade
Fair trade ensures better prices and decent working conditions for farmers and workers in the developing world. It rebalances conventional trade, with fairly traded products benefiting their producers. However, products produced under fair trade conditions need to be available to the consumer at comparative prices. The Government should campaign for lower, or no, EU tariffs [...]
International Development
The Co-operative Movement is one of the largest organised segments of civil society with over 800 million members, and plays a crucial role across a wide spectrum of human aspiration and need. The Government should work with the Co-operative Movement and its international partners to set up a co-operative agency for international development to help [...]
Climate change
Our continuing reliance on fossil fuels places an unsustainable and dangerous burden on our environment, as well as aggravating international tensions and jeopardising progress towards social justice. We should continue to advance international action on climate change, playing a leading role in pressing for and delivering international agreement.
