Promoting Co-Operative Fortnight in Eastbourne

#coopdifference

Members of the Branch met with the public in Eastbourne Town Centre today, to promote Co-operatives Fortnight.

Our street stall distributed a range of information about the vital role the co-operative economy has both in the UK and worldwide, and explained more about how co-operatives work, and the work of the Co-operative Party in developing this, and related policies.

A big thank you to Neil, Ros, Jane, Phil and Dave for their hard work.

You can find out more about Co-operatives Fortnight by clicking here.

Policy 2016- have your say !

Following feedback from Party members and review, the policy sub-committee of the NEC agreed to produce three ‘policy summary’ documents based around the following themes:

Secure and Confident Communities

Building a Shared Economy

Creating a More Equal Society

Click on any of the images to find out more, and how you can have your input !

Towards a Co-operative Economy

In recent weeks voices from across the labour and co-operative movements (and three quarters of the public when polled!) have backed our vision for an economy in which wealth and power are shared. Help us spread the word:

Together, our ideas on employee ownership, profit sharing and greater support for the co-operative sector add up to a radical alternative - one in which everyone has a stake in our economy, and a share of its success.

Since being published in our 2015 'Agenda for Britain', these ideas have received a lot of attention, especially in the past fortnight. Here are some of the highlights:

• Our Chair Gareth Thomas' bill in Parliament, which would require large companies to share some of their profits with staff, and ensure they are represented on company boards Watch clip and read speech
• Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell's speech in Manchester, where he backed our plans for employee ownership when a firm is put up for sale Read his speech
• Last week's Prime Minister's Questions, at which Gareth Thomas asked the PM whether it's time to back profit sharing for firms such as Sports Direct Watch clip
• Coverage in the Daily Mirror and Morning Star of polling commissioned by the Party, which shows that three quarters of of the public support our plans.
• General Secretary Claire McCarthy's letter in the Independent, raising the example of Glas Cymru in Wales as an alternative to rip-off privatised water firms. Read the letter here

It's been a busy few weeks. Bit by bit, our ideas and our co-operative values are showing there's a better way. If you're with us, help spread the word.
 

Co-op Party Policy: Have your say !

At Co-operative Party Annual Conference 2014 we'll be discussing policy in 6 key areas.

• Consumer Affairs and Co-operative Development
• Health and Social Care
• Women and Equalities
• Communities and Local Government
• Energy and Environment
• International Development

The draft policy papers that will be debated are now available by clicking the links above.  If you' have additional ideas or amendments, you can submit these through our local branch, or e-mail the Co-operative Party directly by clicking here.

Food price rises biting ? The Co-operative Solution...

The potential of community food co-operatives was the subject of a discussion at the recent East Sussex Co-operative Party meeting.

More and more communities are setting up food co-ops so they can get good food at an affordable price and have more control over where their food comes from.

Co-operation is all about two or more people joining forces and working together to achieve something they probably couldn't do on their own.

In the case of food co-ops a group of people join forces in order to be able to buy foods they may otherwise find it hard to get hold of at a price they can afford. By volunteering their time and pooling their buying power they can get produce direct from local farmers or wholesalers.

You can find out more about Food Co-ops on the website Foodcoops.org

There is also a superb toolkit on setting up a local food co-op project, on the Sustainweb website here.

 

Annual General Meeting 2013

The East Sussex Branch of the Co-operative Party held its AGM today in Eastbourne.   

 

The meeting elected  Jean Couture as Chair, and Dave Brinson as Secretary, with Hastings Labour councillor Nigel Sinden as Vice-Chair.  Thanks were given to Dilys Gray-Jones, who stepped down as secretary after seven years service, that started when she was the driver to re-form East Sussex as an active Co-operative branch.  Jean and Dave will represent the Branch on the Sussex Co-operative Party Council.

 

The branch continues to affiliate to all local Constituency Labour Parties in East Sussex, and nominated John Carden to serve as delegate to Brighton Kemptown CLP, Jean Couture, Dave Brinson and Jake Lambert for Eastbourne CLP, and Dilys Gray-Jones, Paul Barlow and Nigel Sinden for Hastings CLP- where, of course, we are proud to have our member Sarah Owen as Labour and Co-operative Party Parliamentary Candidate. Branch member Emily Westley is also on the shortlist of Labour candidates for the European elections next year.

 

The meeting discussed our campaigning priorities for the forthcoming year- and our attention was drawn to the Co-operative Party's current national campaigns to promote co-operative values in Britain- including:

The Feeling’s Mutual- a campaign to build a fairer economy, support financial mutuals and, in particular, to return Northern Rock to its former building society status.
HomeShares – the campaign for Co-operative Housing Tenure- to recognise co-operative housing in English law for the first time.
The People’s Rail - to give passengers, staff and the taxpayer a stronger voice in the running of Network Rail and our rail network, by ensuring that the governing members of Network Rail are directly accountable to stakeholders and by enabling worker and community co-ops to bid for rail franchises.
Sewn Up – supporting the Kopano Women’s Co-operative in South Africa - raising funds for the women of the Kopano Sewing Co-operative in South Africa to help them renew their equipment and expand their business making clothes and school uniform for their local community.

and, of course:

End Legal Loan Sharking-  to regulate payday lenders, and the exorbitant rates of interest and penalties associated with them. Eastbourne Labour Party and the East Sussex Co-operative Party have made this one of our key campaigns- especially as local Lib Dem MP Stephen Lloyd has defended these companies in Parliament !

If you would like to be part of our campaigns, JOIN the Co-operative Party by clicking here.

Stop "Legal Loan Sharks"

The Co-operative Party is backing a campaign to regulate companies offering easy credit at exorbitant rates of interest.

Stella Creasy, who is the Labour and Co-operative MP for Walthamstow in East London spoke this week in Brighton at a TUC fringe meeting on this subject, alongside Owen Jones, the bestselling author of Chavs (which looks at the demonisation of the working class  in Britain)

Stella was joined in July by Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party, and by Tom Watson MP, in launching a campaign pack , in association with the Co-operative Party and others.

Stella writes:  "This Government has so far refused to act to tackle the high cost credit companies who are pushing families into crippling debt across Britain. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t take measures to protect them and help make the case for a change in the law to cap the costs of credit. This pack is designed to help with ideas and actions you can take either on your own or together with others to stand up to these companies."

You can download the campaign pack here.

Incidentally, Eastbourne's Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Lloyd has opposed any action against these companies. You can click below to watch his speech last year attempting to justify this, here. If you don’t agree, then the campaign pack contains information to help you write to him, or other elected MPs urging action !