Co-operative Sector: Government Support

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton (Jim McMahon), who was a superb Labour council leader and a superb Labour Government Minister. He is a fantastic advocate for the Co-operative party and the co-operative movement. I also thank Joe Fortune, the general secretary of the Co-operative party, who has been a fantastic supporter of the movement.

If someone is a co-operator, it is in their blood; it is who they are. It is an instinct to trust others, create ideas, craft projects and co-operate. It is about building stronger communities and holding the faith, knowing that life is to be enjoyed and made the most of, and about ignoring the voices of division and misery that feed us the message that life is something to survive and to get through. To be a co-operator is to live with hope; it is about striving for better, never accepting second best and always putting people first.

Politics is about choices, and we know what the choices made by the Conservatives were. The Conservatives showed us whose side they were on: they sold us out and they wrecked our country. Labour wants to put money and power back where they belong: into our communities. With the co-operative movement at the heart of that mission, I believe that we will be successful.

In my constituency of Bournemouth East, we have many co-operators, and across Dorset we have many co-operatives. Indeed, the movement dates back to 1862, with the Parkstone and Bournemouth co-operative. I want to see many more co-operators and co-operatives, and I want to do a few shout-outs, if I may. I want to shout out to Christchurch Housing Society, which provides housing for older and vulnerable people; Great Western credit union; Bournemouth East Allotment Society; and Cherries Trust, a community mutual that supports the local football club, AFC Bournemouth, which was top of the league for all of half an hour at the weekend—I hope to see it return there soon for much longer.

I also want to do a shout-out to Hengistbury Head Outdoors, which has been supported by a Labour Government investment of £668,000 to refurbish and repair its outdoor centre. It now has a 99-year lease, and the co-operative has helped it through the process of issuing shares for community assets and offering a percentage of match funding too. If any constituents are watching, it has a share offer on at the moment, and I would encourage them to invest, because that will help to get the project open in time for April.

Co-operation is in the DNA of Labour. The Labour and Co-operative parties have been sisters since 1927, and the centenary will take place under a Labour Government. Back then, the first electronic TV had just been invented and Parliament was still debating the introduction of traffic lights. We have been sisters for a long time and our partnership has endured, but the Co-op party can at times get lost in and swallowed up by the Labour party. We co-operators need to keep in mind that most fundamental question: what is uniquely co-operative about what we are trying to achieve?

The co-operative model may have been born here in the UK, but Germany’s sector is four times larger than ours, France’s is six times larger, and South Korea has doubled its in just five years by creating the right conditions. We should be no less ambitious now that we have a Labour Government. Over 7,000 UK co-operatives now employ 240,000 people, serve 16.6 million members and generate £42 billion each year. Owned by the people who use them, co-operatives keep wealth rooted in communities and reinvest for the common good. They are proven to be 8% to 12% more productive than traditional firms, twice as likely to survive their first five years and four times less likely to fail during crises. Co-operatives narrow pay gaps, promote equality and strengthen local economies.

To deliver on the Government’s pledge to double the size of the co-operative and mutual sector, we need action that will match our ambition. First, we need a modern legislative framework, acting on the Law Commission’s review, to unlock co-operative growth. Secondly, we need a regulatory system attuned to co-operatives, with the Competition and Markets Authority joining the Prudential Regulation Authority and FCA in supporting their unique role. Thirdly, we need better access to finance, adapting existing funds, such as community development financial institutions and Better Society Capital, to include co-operatives. Fourthly, we need stronger business support, provided through the new co-operative development unit and co-ordinated across Departments. Lastly, we need greater visibility and education so that more entrepreneurs see co-operatives as a viable route to business success.

In the time remaining I want to focus on one specific area of policy where the co-operative sector has played a crucial role and can play a further crucial role. To tackle the climate and ecological emergency, we must do more of what works. We must rapidly expand clean, affordable solar and wind energy so that everyone benefits from a sustainable, secure energy supply. When that energy is community-owned, society is fairer and more resilient. 

As a councillor for 10 years, and as deputy leader of the council, I was proud to back the co-operative movement, including by funding the UK’s largest community-owned solar park with nearly £4 million of council investment. It now generates enough clean power for 6,000 homes each year, and the council receives £177,000 annually, with the loan fully repaid, plus an additional £606,000 to reinvest in local services. Over its lifetime, the project will return £10 million in community benefit, and local people have a direct say in how that money is used.

That is just one project of many in our constituencies. That is what co-operation looks like in action: clean energy, local ownership and shared prosperity. We could do so much more with the support of our Labour Government, and I am pleased to see Great British Energy prioritising community energy with a Great British Energy community fund that provides feasibility funding of up to £40,000 and project development funding of up to £100,000. I thank Barbara Hammond, Mish Tullar and Tim Sadler for their role in developing the solar park project, and thank the Co-operative Councils’ Innovation Network for sharing the news of the project across councils, as well as news of all the good projects across our constituencies.

The Rochdale pioneers built their movement in the hungry forties, when profit and power were concentrated in too few hands. They offered a fairer, more democratic way to do business, and that vision still matters today. Let us achieve a golden twenties; let us make this a co-operative decade. Co-operatives show us what businesses can be when profit serves people, not the other way round. Let us match ambition with action. Let us build an economy that is more productive, more resilient and fairer for all.