Co-operative Party

This article is about the British political party. For other parties of the same name, see Co-operative Party (disambiguation).

Co-operative Party
General SecretaryJoe Fortune
Chair of the NECJim McMahon
Founded17 October 1917 (1917-10-17)
Headquarters83 Crampton Street
London SE17 3BQ
Youth wingCo-operative Party Youth
Membership (2022)Increase 13,194[1]
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left
Affiliate partyLabour Party
(Labour and Co-operative Party)
Colours  Purple
House of Commons[5]
43 / 650
House of Lords[5]
15 / 806
Scottish Parliament[5]
11 / 129
Senedd[5]
16 / 60
Local Government[5]
938 / 19,698
London Assembly
10 / 25
PCCs and PFCCs[5]
15 / 37
Directly elected mayors[5]
11 / 25
Website
party.coop Edit this at Wikidata
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The Co-operative Party (Welsh: Y Blaid Gydweithredol) is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, supporting co-operative values and principles. The party currently has an electoral pact with the Labour Party. Established in 1917, the Co-operative Party was founded by co-operative societies to campaign politically for the fairer treatment of co-operative enterprise and to elect co-operators to Parliament. The party's roots lie in the Parliamentary Committee of the Co-operative Union established in 1881.

Since 1927, the Co-operative Party has had an electoral pact with the Labour Party, with the parties agreeing not to stand candidates against each other. Candidates selected by members of both parties contest elections using the description "Labour and Co-operative Party".[6] The Co-operative Party is a legally separate entity from the Labour Party, and is registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission.[7] Co-operative Party members are not permitted to be members of any other political party in the UK apart from the Labour Party or Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

As of July 2024, the Co-operative Party was the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons, with 43 Members of Parliament. As all of its MPs sit with the Parliamentary Labour Party, this distinction is seldom made. The Co-operative Party also has representatives in the House of Lords, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd, the London Assembly and some local government authorities. In keeping with its co-operative values and principles, the Co-operative Party does not have a leader. Instead Joe Fortune is its General Secretary, Preet Kaur Gill chairs the Co-operative Party Parliamentary Group, and Jim McMahon chairs the National Executive Committee.

  1. ^ "BOARD REPORT & ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2022". Co-operative Party.
  2. ^ "Building A Fairer Future – The Co-operative Plan for Britain 2019". Co-operative Party.
  3. ^ Peterkin, Tom (28 April 2013). "Co-Op Party chair quits over indy support". The Scotsman.
  4. ^ [2][3]
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "About the Party". Co-operative Party.
  6. ^ "National Agreement between the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party (2003)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Overview of donations and loans reported in 2013". Donations and loans to political parties. The Electoral Commission.