Co-op councils visit Italy’s famous co-operative region
- March 2024
Cliff Mills
A co-operative consultant with Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, on how can co-operation contribute to change
Article: 3rd July 2024 Co-operative News
Co-operation: a tool for the next government?
- 24th Jul 2024
- Community Wealth Building
There is much in Labour’s manifesto – and some in others – to encourage those coming from a co-operative and mutual tradition, not least Labour’s promise to double the size of the UK’s co-operative and mutual sector. But rather more remains unsaid about how this is to be achieved, and what part co-operation and mutuality might play in implementing this change.
To be fair, this is not surprising when the movement itself generally struggles to articulate what it offers that is so fundamentally different to traditional businesses. Why is this?
We have lost sight in the UK of how member-owned businesses turn traditional enterprise on its head, by first establishing relationships that aren’t simply transactional. Those relationships are based on a shared vision, however superficial that may seem to some, of people collectively creating access to something essential, available to everyone, on a fair basis. There is a moral framing for the transactions that follow. That’s the distinction. In other businesses, it’s simply about the transactions, because that’s how profits are generated.
