The Co-operative Party has announced a campaign, Community Britain, in response to “a crisis of trust” in instutions, politics and “even .. in each other”.
In a message to members, general secretary Joe Fortune warned: “Divisive political forces are already stepping into the gap, trying to drive us even further apart.
“We don’t believe the story of Britain needs to be one of division, disillusionment, and decline. We believe a better Britain exists – and to find it, you only need to look to the communities who are leading the fightback.”
He said the campaign will “highlight the role that communities are already playing in solving our nation’s most pressing challenges and to reclaim the role of communities as a serious political and economic force”.
He says the Party has asked community leaders, experts and representatives from around the country what community meant to them, and produced an essay collection, Stories from Community Britain, that “pioneering solutions to important issues like climate change, economic stagnation and social cohesion”.
Case studies include Ambition Lawrence Weston, a community organisation in a deprived area of Bristol which has helped develop a solar energy co-op; the community-owned Stretford Public Hall in Manchester; and efforts to build community resilience to prevent the rise of the far right,
“Taken together, these stories provide a blueprint of what our country could look like if every community had the power, ownership, and resources to shape the places they live,” said Fortune.
“At a time when trust in politics is at an all-time low, these stories prove that real change isn’t just possible – it’s already happening in communities up and down the country. It’s time to learn from them, champion them, and demand a politics that empowers them. We need government at every level not to step back, but to step forward.
“Community has always been at the heart of the co-operative movement. Now, we’re on a mission to put it back at the heart of politics. Read these stories, share them, and join us in putting communities at the heart of our country’s future.”
The campaign comes at a time of increasing polarisation in politics, with populist governments taking power around the world and Nigel Farage’s Reform Party growing its poll ratings in the UK.
Meanwhile, on the government side, the Blue Labour movement looks to strengthen culturally conservative ideas in the party – while the leadership has talked tough on immigration and this week announced cuts to the aid budget, prompting the resignation of Labour/Co-op MP Anneliese Dodds from her post as international development minister.
Launching the campaign in London on Tuesday, Fortune made no reference to internal party politics but took general aim at populist voices.
“There’s too many who feel that economic growth isn’t coming to their street,” he told an audience at County Hall. “Too many community assets have been lost. Too many building blocks of community have left. It doesn’t take me to tell you that, in in my view, the erosion of trust is dangerous. The fracturing of community is horrific. It doesn’t take me to tell you, as we know this, everyone in the room knows it.
“It doesn’t take me to say there’s those in politics who want to cynically exploit this. This set of circumstance will be cynically exploited by others in politics, sowing division and anger.
“Now, from my point of view, what we must not do is pander to those who cynically exploit this. We must not.”
