Went to the Manchester Area Co-op Party meeting last Friday. Everybody discussing the recent elections. Not as bad locally as the results the national picture. However disquieting points about breaches in election expenses by opponents - more to follow.
What is coming up is changes in the funding of the Co-operative Party. Only a small percentage comes from membership subscriptions the real money comes from the co-operative societies and the big player is the Co-operative Group. You can read the amounts, if you can be bothered, in the annual returns submitted to the Electoral Commission.
This is my take on the proposal that regional Co-op Parties come up with a 'business plan'. If they want money they should apply and if they are sitting on big reserves in the bank then spend it on political activity before asking. The bottom line is the Co-op Party is spending the money of co-op members and they should get some good value for that.
