It’s just a ‘Big Con’, says Co-op Party chief

August 04 2010

Michael Stephenson, General Secretary of the Co-operative Party, said the coalition’s Big Society announcement was a betrayal of co-operative values.

Mr Stephenson said: “This is less a ‘Big Society’ as a ‘Big Con’. The Co-operative Party has spent the past 90 years campaigning for more ‘people power’ in public services, and it has been opposed every step of the way by the Conservative Party.

“The statement says nothing about co-operatives, which the Coalition were supposed to have embraced only a few months ago, and simply throws pressure on volunteers to run local services.

“If volunteers don’t have the resources, time or expertise to run those services like museums and libraries they will simply fail or be privatised. This is Thatcherism under the guise of a community ethic.

“In contrast, the co-operative approach would see local services run by local people as a community asset underpinned by a set of values and a sustainable governance structure. The Tories and Liberal Democrats don’t understand that because they don’t share the values of the Co-operative Movement. They are using this announcement as a stalking horse for cuts and have ditched their commitment to co-operatives after only two months in power.

“This is not about handing power back to communities, it’s about opening the path to privatisation and reduced services.”