Owers for the Co-operative Party

I am pleased to announce that today I was selected as the Co-operative Party candidate for Abbey ward. This is in addition to being the Labour candidate; the Labour and Co-operative Parties are sister parties, and an electoral agreement exists by which we never stand candidates against each other and one can be the official candidate of both parties.

I am a proud member of the Co-operative Party and believe that their ethos and principles are perfectly suited for the current economic climate, in which it is widely acknowledged that the short-termist, socially irresponsible neo-liberal model of capitalism that has dominated the world in the last 25 or 30 years has been fatally discredited. Co-operative solutions work on the principle that businesses and institutions should be democratically accountable to their workers and/or consumers, and should work on the basis of collaboration and concern for the wider community rather than cut-throat competition. We need to have an economy that works for people, rather than people working for the economy, and co-operative enterprises, which can be run according to principles other than single-minded dedication to profit regardless of the social cost, are the perfect way of making this a reality. Rather than just being focussed on the accumulation of material wealth, co-operatives can take into account social, cultural and even spiritual objectives because of their democratic structure. This is exactly what we need to inject an ethical socialist outlook into the economy.

Also, because co-operative enterprises are subject to the democratic control of consumers and workers who have an interest in the long-term prosperity and stable flourishing of the enterprise, co-ops, particularly in the financial sector in terms of building societies, tend to be more stable and less liable to collapse.

For these reasons and more, I urge everyone to become a co-operator and also join the Co-operative Party - their website is here: http://www.party.coop/

On a local level, I want to make sure that, if elected, the city council makes more use of co-operative solutions in its approach to policy problems. As we all know, one of Cambridge’s biggest problems is the shortage of affordable housing and the need to construct thousands of new homes. I would try to ensure that housing developments are encouraged, as much as is feasible, to look at and utilise co-operative blueprints of ownership and management, such as the ‘community housing mutual’ model that is being pioneered in parts of the country. I would also want to push the City Council to adopt a ‘Co-operative Development Strategy’.

In addition, I would like to make sure that the council and local community make use of the opportunity to use government funds to help them buy out local pubs and run them on a co-operative basis.

However, I can only bring these ethical socialist and cooperative principles to bear on our community if I am elected on May 6th - so please remember to vote for me!