Co-operative Sector: Government Support
Debate between Mark Ferguson and Gareth SnellWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Mark Ferguson (Gateshead Central and Whickham) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. Please do not adjust your sets: I am not the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. But I am very pleased to be here on her behalf for my first stint at the Dispatch Box. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] Thank you.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton (Jim McMahon) for securing this important debate. He is a huge asset not only to our party and his constituents but to the Co-operative party, which he proudly serves as chair. I must declare that I am a recently rejoined member of the Co-operative party. I did not know that I would be doing this debate when I joined, but it is a pleasure for it to have come round so soon. As so many others have done, I note the sterling work of the party’s general secretary, Joe Fortune. I also want to recognise the party’s fantastic head of politics, Caitlin Prowle, who I am sure has put a huge amount of work into this debate.
The level of interest in this topic reflects the Government’s strong support for the co-operative sector and underlines how important it is to ensure that the sector continues to grow, thereby supporting local people and communities. It also reinforces why, in our manifesto, we committed to doubling the size of the co-operative and mutual sector.
I thank colleagues from across the House for their thoughtful contributions. My hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon) talked about the importance of community housing. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale (Paul Waugh) talked about the Metro Moneywise credit union, which is clearly building on the legacy of the Rochdale pioneers. My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel) spoke about new forms of co-operative support. It would not be a first appearance at the Dispatch Box without the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon); I thank him for his very kind words, and I know how important the co-operative sector is in Northern Ireland.
My hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) gave great examples of the importance of local leadership, including at Leigh Spinners Mill. That organisation was lucky to have her and, after a brief absence, we are lucky to have her back in this place. My hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) talked about a purpose-driven economy and inclusive growth. He does himself down a little, though: he is not as much of an old lag as he sometimes pretends to be.
My hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald) talked about the breadth of the co-operative sector and the opportunities for her community presented by devolution—on which my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton did such sterling work as a Labour Minister. My hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Jack Abbott)—I hope Ipswich coming straight after Norwich is not a point of contention—spoke about the role of the community in shaping the future of his town. That is something we on the Government side of the House are incredibly keen on.
My hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury) talked about one of my favourite topics: social clubs and their important role in the community. They are part of our past but, increasingly, also part of our future. We should all seek to support them, both politically and with the pounds in our pockets. My hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) talked about how co-operative principles can be applied to modern challenges, while my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) made the second-earliest reference, to 1862—not quite as far back as the Rochdale pioneers, but pretty good. He also mentioned Hengistbury Head Outdoors and called on local people to invest, which sounds very sensible for people in that area. My hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) said we are “the doers”. Not only that, but she is a doer for her constituents in a world of talkers, and we all thank her for that.
I welcome the support of the Lib Dem spokesperson, the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney), for the co-op sector. While I expect some disagreement with the Government, I think we can agree that this was an agreeable debate on all sides. She made the important point that co-ops are more likely to be led by women than the average for the FTSE 100. That is another mark in favour of the co-operative sector.
As for the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Wyre Forest (Mark Garnier), he said before I started that everything that needs to be said has been said—a bit of a challenge, but I can take it on my first outing. We all welcome a new co-operator, don’t we? He joined over the course of the debate. After the Economic Secretary to the Treasury has read Hansard tonight, before bed, which I am sure she will—as we all do every night—she will write back to him on the point about the British Business Bank. The Government look forward to the Law Commission review coming out. I certainly did not expect references to the potential mutualisation of Thames Water or Icelandic trade unionism—I hope that one day both may be discussed more broadly on the Opposition Benches—but the mutualisation of Thames Water is not Government policy.
The Government are committed to doubling the size of the mutuals sector, as has been discussed. According to the 2025 co-operative and mutual economy report, there are currently over 10,000 mutual and co-operative businesses in the UK, with an annual income of £179.2 billion. What doubling means will differ for different parts of the sector.
Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)
This debate has focused on the business element of the co-operative sector, but could the Minister take back to the Department the work on co-operative solutions that happens in social settings? My constituency was one of the few that had riots last year. The Co-operative party’s community power work demonstrates that we can bring communities together and deal with the tensions and sense of purposelessness by giving people a genuine stake in their community so that they can shape the services they use. There is no business element to that, but the social benefit is huge. When the Minister goes back to his Department, can he implore it to look at co-operative solutions to and models for the modern tensions that we face in some communities? The co-operative movement has the answers that we are looking for.
Mark Ferguson
My hon. Friend intervened on my maiden speech, which is slightly irregular, and now he has intervened on my first outing at the Dispatch Box. Co-operatives have a wide variety of uses in the economy and I am sure that the Department and the Government more broadly will consider them. Their importance in community cohesion is certainly not lost on me or, I am sure, on other Members here.
On the shadow Minister’s question about cash ISAs, cash savings are important for people looking to put cash away for a rainy day, and the Government will protect that. The Chancellor has been clear that she wants to get Britain investing again so that companies can grow and so British savers who choose to can get more in return. Given that I am here merely on behalf of my hon. and learned Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, I am even less tempted than usual to comment on the future Budget.
I want to acknowledge the importance of discussing the mutual sector, of which co-operatives are a huge part. According to research by Co-operatives UK, the 10,000 co-operatives I mentioned not only have £179 billion of income, but employ 1.3 million people in our economy. Britain has a rich history of mutuality, from co-operatives and community benefit societies to credit unions, mutual insurers and friendly societies. For example, this year marks the 250th anniversary of the first ever building society, which was founded in Birmingham with the principles that still guide the sector today.
The modern co-operative movement was born in Britain, as my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton noted. In 1844, a small group of artisans from Rochdale came together to form the first modern co-operative, the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers.
Immigration and Home Affairs
Debate between Mark Ferguson and Gareth Snell(1 year, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mark Ferguson (Gateshead Central and Whickham) (Lab)
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to speak in this debate and for affording me the honour of making my first speech in this House on behalf of the people of Gateshead Central and Whickham—in fact, the first speech on behalf of the new constituency of Gateshead Central and Whickham. To represent a community you care about deeply, including friends and family, is of course a source of great pride, but to speak in this place as their voice is a great responsibility.
My friend Ian Mearns, the former Member for Gateshead, served the people of our community for 41 years—27 as a councillor, and 14 in this place. He has always been and will remain someone I seek guidance from, even when we disagree, which we will. I will aim to carry forward his passion for education in this place, as education, alongside my family and the Labour party, has given me every opportunity I have had in my life. Ian served as a member of the Education Committee, and was knowledgeable and rigorous in that role. He also served as Chair of the Backbench Business Committee, and I know that many Members will have been grateful to him for making sure that they had the time to raise their issues in this Chamber and Westminster Hall.
I am fortunate, too, to have another immediate predecessor sitting behind me: my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist). We are both proud trade unionists, and she has done inspirational work on self-harm and suicide prevention, which I know is deeply personal to her. I am indebted to her for her guidance and support, and will be for as long as I am lucky enough to work alongside her.
In Gateshead, we are proud of our manufacturing history. Our own Sir Joseph Swan invented the first incandescent light bulb, and his home in Low Fell was the first in the world to be wired for domestic electric lighting. Manufacturing in Gateshead is part of my history, too—my father worked at the old Clarke Chapman factory—yet we are equally excited about our manufacturing present and future. Situated on both the east coast main line and the A1, we are ideally suited for the jobs of the future, and I say to my hon. Friends on the Front Bench and those in the relevant Departments that I will be collaring them about this if I haven’t already. Work is key to the people of Gateshead and Whickham. We are working people, never shy of hard work and proud of what we do for work, but all too often in search of skilled work and better pay and too often forced to live in poverty. That is why, among all the excellent Bills brought forward in this King’s Speech, one stands out above all others: the employment rights Bill.
I must now declare an interest, and it is one I am proud to declare. As my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Kate Dearden) stated yesterday, I too am proud of the amount of work that I and others within Labour’s affiliated trade unions, working with Labour Members on these Benches, have put into developing a package known as the new deal for working people, now the employment rights Bill. In places like my community where people work hard but all too often their pay is not what it should be, this will change lives. In every corner of our country, in every constituency represented in this place where there are those working without dignity on exploitative zero-hours contracts, being subjected to the brutality of fire and rehire, being paid wages they cannot live on, or toiling as care workers or school support staff on insufficient wages, this Bill will change lives in their communities too, and I urge Members to give it their full support when the time comes. Right now, for far too many, work does not pay and you only need to visit Gateshead food bank or a food bank in your constituency to see that.
Decent work and better pay are at the heart of why I came into politics, because dignity in work is the key that unlocks everything else, but it is not all that matters. What matters too is what makes the heart sing—what we do with our families and friends that makes memories and elevates us above the everyday. The cultural power of my local area is too often overlooked. We are the home of institutions such as the Baltic centre for contemporary art and the Glasshouse on Gateshead quays, but also of smaller, older and no less important venues such as Shipley art gallery and the Little theatre—the only theatre built in Britain during world war two. This cultural tradition has endured for centuries, with the work of the engraver Thomas Bewick, the writings of Daniel Defoe, who lived on the south bank of the Tyne, the 18th-century comic operas of William Shield of Swalwell, the satirical songs of Low Fell’s Alex Glasgow and the rock anthems of AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, born in Dunston. But don’t worry, I am not going to sing.
Mark Ferguson
You haven’t heard my voice.
We are a place of learning, too, with Gateshead college and Cardinal Hume school—recently judged outstanding by Ofsted—two of the fantastic educational establishments I have been proud to visit already. I look forward to working with others, including Whickham school, Gibside and Kingsmeadow. In our thriving Jewish community, who I am proud to represent, stands Gateshead’s Talmudical college, the oldest yeshiva in the country, founded in 1929. I am told that it is the foundation upon which Gateshead gained its reputation as the Oxbridge of the Jewish world.
Sport, too, is important to Gateshead. Sir Brendan Foster has a long and proud relationship with our town, and of course the great north run runs through Gateshead. The image of people running into Gateshead over the Tyne bridge is burned on the collective consciousness of our country. The famous oarsman Harry Clasper was raised in Dunston, as was Paul Gascoigne. And we love our football, including Gateshead FC—the 2024 FA Trophy winners, by the way—even though the Boundary Commission has given the honour of being the football club’s MP to my hon. Friend the Member for Jarrow and Gateshead East (Kate Osborne). The fact that my grandfather played for the club in the 1940s is a source of great pride. While most of my constituents support the black and white of Newcastle, some of us support the red and white of Sunderland and many of us are united in our support for Gateshead too. To those Opposition Members who may be coming to terms with the feeling of being in the minority, let me say what my father said to me as a young man growing up a Sunderland fan in Gateshead, “It will be character building.”
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to speak in this debate. This is a time of great importance for our country, one where trust in this place has fallen on hard times and where we must, on all sides, work to rebuild it. I will do all that I can to be a voice for the people of Gateshead Central and Whickham. I will work my hardest for them, and I will try to represent them to the best of my ability.