social enterprise

This article is provided courtesy of the news feed at http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news

A call to action has been launched promoting cooperation as a route to addressing issues including economic renewal and social innovation.

Ahead of the general election, Cooperatives UK secretary general Ed Mayo said the financial crisis and the climate threat meant ‘the time really has come for a new agenda of cooperation’.

The member owned and led trade association is calling for all political parties to use cooperation as a major force in tackling the areas of economic renewal, social innovation, a fairer society, climate change and digital futures.

Key asks of the next government include:

•Supporting the development of cooperatives
•A clear policy framework to define how cooperatives can deliver public services
•An ‘emergency support service’ for struggling pubs, enabling people to save their pubs from closure using the cooperative model
•A wholesale review of energy markets to hand greater power and control to users of energy through cooperatives
•A programme to encourage rural communities to take control of digital services by promoting community ownership and implementation of fibre-optic broadband access

Welcoming the current UK debate about cooperatives and mutuals, Mr Mayo said: ‘As businesses with a member and community focus, they are able to deliver both in strictly financial terms but also as an important alternative to a solely investor led model.’

Cooperatives UK has also signed up to the recently released Mutuals Manifesto which revealed customers trust mutuals more than either government-run organisations or private businesses.

The manifesto says it is ‘in the national interest’ that government understands the sector – which employs more than 900,000 people and has annual revenues exceeding £95m - as well valuing ‘the diversity mutuals bring to markets in which they operate’.