Yorkshire Co-op Party News

The Co-operative Party in Yorkshire

Since the new Party Council was established covering the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber, we have been meeting in Leeds. The centenary year 2017 has seen the Party Council meetings move around the area with our first meeting in York on Saturday 13 May 2017. Our speaker in the afternoon was Rachael Maskell who was re-elected as the MP for York Central in the General Election with a superb majority of 18,575. On Saturday 22 July we will be in Hull for our party council meeting in the morning and then a panel of speakers in the afternoon. All Co-operative Party members are welcome and can take part but only delegates can vote at the Party Council meeting itself. If you want to come please let Theresa Vaughan know at tvaughan@tvaughan.karoo.co.uk , then you can have lunch. Then we are planning to meet on Saturday 28 October 2017 in the Circle in Sheffield. Speakers have yet to be confirmed but the theme will be the next 100 years, looking at connecting with emerging and new co-operatives and re-connecting with those people who have moved away from the Labour and Co-operative movement. Our branches are busy as well. A centenary meeting was held in Bradford on 8 July with speakers Judith Cummins MP, Councillor Adrian Farley and ex MEP Michael McGowan. Another centenary meeting is planned to be held in Leeds in November 2017. This will round off our centenary celebrations in Yorkshire but is only the start of a re-energised Co-operative Party seeking to address concerns and issues with co-operative solutions. A new branch in Barnsley is being formed with its first meeting on Monday 17 July with John Battle, the ex MP for Leeds West, as a speaker. We are gaining new members with Sheffield being the largest branch in Yorkshire. We had 6 candidates in the June General Election. We added Alex Sobel to our re-elected MPs Tracey Brabin, Rachael Maskell and Barry Sheerman. Ian McCargo came close to winning Pudsey and Neil Dawson kept Morley and Outwood as a target for the next election. The Co-operative Party has a great future. We are 100 years old and we have only just got started so if you are a member come along to our meetings and activities. If you are not a member go to our website www.party.coop and join us. Neil Rhodes neilgrhodes@gmail.com