Title: The Co-operative party: moving beyond the Labour party | Guardian sustainable business | The Guardian
Headings: The Co-operative party: moving beyond the Labour party
The Co-operative party: moving beyond the Labour party
It's time members of co-ops got a say in how their money was spent in politics, says Dave Boyle

Content: As Labour grew, falling in with them made good political sense; the alliance cemented between the two parties in 1928 remains in place. That alliance is nominally between two sovereign parties, but it's perhaps more akin to the longstanding alliance between the Liberal and National parties in Australia. People in both will make much of the differences but, in reality, they are less important to people on the outside as the fact that the two are in lockstep. The Co-operative Party considers itself a sister to Labour, but one often gets the feeling that for a great many of the latter's members and MPs, co-operatives are regarded more as a once-vibrant but now doddery old aunt to be humoured; you'll hear lots of praise, but rarely get an invitation to an important family dinner. That's a feeling underlined by the record of 13 years of Labour government. It's clear that times were better for the co-operative movement under Labour than the previous 18 under the Conservatives, but that's a very low bar. Like much discussion of Labour's record across the board, a list of successes does little to assuage the heavy sense of disappointment at what could have been done. Some co-operative initiatives were promoted, such as Supporters Direct but, unlike government legislation to reform the charity and company sector, changes advantageous to the co-operative sector were legislated in piecemeal fashion, through the lottery of private members bills.