I am not only a Labour MP, I am a Labour/Co-operative MP.
The Co-operative Party is a sister party to the Labour Party; there are 29 Labour/Co-op MPs, making the Cooperative Party the fourth largest political party represented in Parliament!
Co-operative is all too often seen as something that our parents and grandparents did, the days when all the local shops and dairies were co-operatives seems like a long time ago but the co-operative movement is thriving in the UK, and in the present economic climate an ecomonic model specifically designed to help and support its members can hardly be a bad thing.
The Co-operative Supermarket is the fourth largest supermarket in the UK, the Co-operative Bank is the sixth largest bank in the UK, and has seen its way through the recession with minimal fuss thanks to its ethical banking policy. The Bank is wholely owned by its members, it does not issue shares and is not listed on the stock market.
Co-operatives opperate in every part of our life, there are co-operative farms, nurseries, schools and housing assocoations. For more information or to find information about co-operatives near you have a look at the
Co-operatives UK website.
People's Rail
One of the more interesting Co-operative ideas in the last few years has come in the for of the People's Rail Charter.
The idea comes from the Co-operative Party; we have a long standing belief that giving people a voice in the services they want and need can have a transformative impact on the quality of those services.
In the case of the railways, where all parties have struggled to lift the standard of services, this must surely be an idea that will command the unanimous support of people across all parties and indeed people who have not engaged with party politics at all but who use the railways.
The simple idea is to change the structure of Network Rail so that it is no longer accountable to a consultative group that it appoints itself but rather to a group elected by rail travellers that will provide a genuine voice for the customer. Long-suffering rail users need something better than a rail network that often appears to be run for the convenience of managers skilful at avoiding responsibility.
Since I ceased to be a minister I have tried consistently to travel more frequently by rail between Westminster and Penarth and I know just how frustrating it can be with frequent service delays. Weekend travel is made particularly unpleasant through the much longer journey times and planned cancellations that seem to be going on forever despite the massive investment that the government has put into the railways on our behalf.
Perhaps if the people who run Network Rail are made to account regularly to people elected by users, life would be less frustrating for rail users and indeed for Members of Parliament.
So let us give the people avoice. More information can be found on the
People's Rail Website.