Why It Matters Burnham Will Be UK’s First Labour And Co-op PM’

What would it mean to have the first Labour and Co-operative prime minister?

It’s a question I have been asked several times over the last few weeks, as General Secretary of a Co-operative Party about to hit one hundred years of electoral agreement with Labour.

My answer is simple: it would be a landmark moment, not just for the Co-operative Party, but for the wider co-operative movement and for British politics.

We are living through a remarkable period of firsts, with co-operative politics on the cusp of unprecedented opportunity.

In just the last two years we have seen the first ever government elected with a clear and ambitious programme to grow the co-operative and mutual economy, the first ever Labour and Co-operative secretary of state for business and trade in Jonathan Reynolds, the first significant programme of support for community-owned energy, the introduction of England’s first Community Right to Buy, and more Labour and Co-operative members sitting around the cabinet table than the Party had across the previous seven decades combined.

For the first time, growing the co-operative economy has become part of the chancellor’s economic narrative, featuring in Budgets and Mansion House speeches.

We have begun the long overdue task of correcting the way government, regulation and public policy have too often overlooked or disadvantaged co-operatives and mutuals.

None of these changes happened by accident.

They represent years of campaigning finally finding political expression.

Each of these milestones matters in its own right, but together they do something even more important.

They give confidence to our movement and demonstrate that co-operative ideas are practical rather than theoretical.

They increase the visibility of our politics and show that ownership, democracy and mutuality are not relics of the past but answers to some of today’s biggest challenges.

Andy Burnham is someone who I believe feels these values deeply.

His association with co-operative values stretches back many years.

Throughout his political career he has consistently engaged with co-operative organisations and championed mutual approaches.

As a minister, he played an important role in supporting the development of Supporters Direct, helping to grow the supporter ownership movement that has transformed football trusts and enabled communities to take a greater stake in their clubs.

As Mayor of Greater Manchester he has continued that commitment.

He established the Greater Manchester Co-operative Commission to examine how co-operative enterprise could play a larger role in the region’s economy.

His administration has worked with credit unions to help people spread the cost of Bee Network travel through affordable finance provided by member-owned institutions rather than high-cost lenders.

He has supported work with Co-operatives UK on initiatives such as the Middleton Regeneration Co-op and consistently argued that community ownership, mutuality and co-operation should play a bigger part in economic development.

None of these examples, taken individually, would define a political career.

Together, however, they reveal a politician who understands that co-operation is not simply another business model but a different way of thinking about power, ownership and community.

That matters because the challenges Britain faces cannot be solved by government acting alone or by markets acting alone.

They require stronger communities, broader ownership of wealth, greater economic democracy and institutions that give people a genuine stake in the places where they live.

Those are ideas the co-operative movement has championed for more than 180 years.

If Britain were to have its first Labour & Co-operative prime minister, it would send a powerful message that co-operative politics is no longer an interesting footnote in Labour’s history but an integral part of its future.

It would tell every co-operative member, every mutual, every community business, every credit union and every supporter-owned football club that their way of organising society belongs at the centre of national life.

As we approach the centenary of the electoral agreement between the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party, we should recognise how far we have come.

But we should be even more excited by how far we can still go.

There is a symbolic connection that I have always enjoyed.

The Manchester Bee has become synonymous with Andy Burnham.

More than once I have found myself in good-natured debate at Party events about whether he was wearing the Manchester Bee or the Co-operative Party Bee.

Whichever badge came first almost becomes beside the point, it’s the shared symbolism matters.

The Bee was carved into the frontage of the Rochdale Pioneers’ first co-operative store in 1844.

It represents industry, collective endeavour and the simple but powerful idea that people achieve more when they work together than when they compete alone.

It’s why Andy was right to reference the Pioneers in his first major intervention this week.

As Andy said, these were people who looked at their lot and decided to fight for something better.

And I believe we can do that again.

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