A report, £10 million and a Prime Minister's speech: Capitalising on our movement's moment

I wanted to reflect on what's been an incredible week. It feels like we're experiencing another surge in momentum for our co‑operative movement.

Last week we published our Co‑operative and Mutual Economy report. It shows that we have more than 8,000 co‑operatives operating in the UK, but this is just 0.14% of UK businesses.

There has been growth in our movement but – two years after the government pledged to double the size of the co‑operative and mutual economy – the size of the co‑op sector has grown by just 0.41% a year. At this rate, "doubling" will take more than 150 years.

We know that government has an ambition for "good growth in every postcode".

And we know that co‑operatives, by design, generate good growth in communities across the UK.

In our report, we acknowledged what government has done so far – through the Local Power Plan and Pride in Place funding – to help create opportunities for communities to own assets, shape investment and build local wealth.

But we said our movement needs more. We need to turn individual programmes into a wider environment in which co‑operatives can thrive.

That was Thursday.

By Friday evening we were thrilled to share news of £10 million of government investment in co‑operative development. And by putting it in the hands of mayors and strategic authorities, it follows the Greater Manchester approach that the Prime Minister now wants to take "into every postcode".

This was such significant news for me, my team and of course across the movement.

We attended the Labour Party conference. It was great to be able to bring up the new funding in conversations with MPs, ministers, councillors and other policy influencers. It was particularly great to have something to thank ministers for.

We had great conversations at private roundtables with Lord Leong, Minister for Co‑operatives and Mutuals at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST), and Steven Morgan, Minister for Farming at Defra.

I found that co‑operatives were increasingly coming up in conversations on diverse topics, without us having to raise them. Things are changing.

And then, on Tuesday, in a speech I think will be remembered for a long time, Prime Minister Andy Burnham told the Labour conference that the United Kingdom he believes in is "a union of nations that gave trade unions and the co‑operative movement to the world."

I was in the hall and it was a really special moment to be a part of. The atmosphere was electric.

Capitalising on this momentum

It feels like things are changing, but there's so much hard work to do to make the most of this moment. I've written more about it in my latest blog.

We have so much to celebrate but, as ever, so much hard work to do to capitalise on this opening door: growing interest in co‑operatives, and belief in what they – and a co‑operative way of doing things – can achieve.

And we have more great things coming up.

Next week, Beyond the Music takes place in Salford (6-9 October) – a global conference and festival that's shaking up the music industry. It brings together artists, policymakers, industry leaders, technologists and cultural thinkers.

And because it's a co‑operative, it can do what the rest of the industry hasn't: build a creative future that's fairer, more collaborative and more imaginative, for music and beyond.

And next month, the UK Social Enterprise Awards 2026 will take place in Manchester for the first time (on 12 November). We are co‑producing the event with Social Enterprise UK to bring the country's leading celebration of purpose‑driven business to the heart of the city's historic co‑operative quarter. This year's awards include a dedicated co‑op of the year award, recognising the contribution of democratic, member‑owned businesses to social and environmental impact.

There's lots more to come. But I want to finish with this: it's a big moment for our movement, and we need to seize it.

Let's work together, amplify each other and stay noisy so that the spotlight remains on our co‑operative movement.