INTERVIEW: ‘Now is our moment’: Caitlin Prowle of the Co-operative Party looks ahead to Britain’s first Co-op PM

When Andy Burnham walks through the door of Downing Street later this month, he will make history as the first Prime Minister affiliated with the Co-operative Party.

Despite working alongside Labour for almost a century and the success of countless Labour and Co-operative MPs, the party has never seen one of its own reach the country’s highest office.

With Burnham just a fortnight away from succeeding Keir Starmer, assistant general secretary of the Co-operative Party Caitlin Prowle said his arrival in Downing Street presents a “historic moment of opportunity”.

She said: “It’s co-operative politics reaching Number 10 for the first time in history in a formal way. 

“It’s a moment of massive opportunity, the biggest opportunity we ever will have had as a movement of nearly 200 years. I think what will be key for us now is seizing it and unleashing co-operative solutions, co-operative values and co-operative politics across the country, across departments and sectors and see what we can do with it really.”

‘The strand of the membership that cares about power and ownership’

The Co-operative Party had its most successful election to date in 2024, with 43 MPs elected across the country. However, Prowle points out that their political representation extends far beyond Westminster.

“We’ve got our biggest ever Westminster group, but we’ve also got over 1,200 councillors across the country. We’ve got the majority of metro mayors. We’ve got strong, although reduced, groups in the Welsh and Scottish parliaments. One in four Labour representatives is Labour and Co-operative… so we’ve actually got really strong representation across the board.”

Given the shared history and values between Labour and the Co-operative Party, what does Prowle see as the distinction between the two sister parties? Despite the close electoral alliance and bond, she argues the Co-operative Party brings with it a distinctive political tradition of its own.

“The Co-operative Party represents a really interesting and very strong strand in the labour movement as a whole. It’s the strand of the membership that cares about power and ownership. 

“I always say we have on our Labour membership cards that the Labour Party believes in sharing power and wealth, and the Labour Party is quite good about talking about sharing wealth, less good talking about sharing power – or has been historically, I think that’s changing.”

‘A successful two years, with more on the horizon’

Reflecting on Labour’s first two years in government as Keir Starmer prepares to leave Downing Street, Prowle said it had been a success for the Co-operative Party, with their purple fingerprints visible on many elements of Labour’s key achievements.

In particular, she highlighted how many of their key priorities from the general election have been delivered on, including on greater protections for retail workers, community-owned renewable energy and a ‘Community Right to Buy’.

“I think it’s been a really successful two years. I think we have started a lot of work that we as a Labour movement set out to do at the election, which was to change the country. I think Keir Starmer and the government have been facing up to a huge amount of distrust in politics, a huge sense that politics isn’t anything to do with me in my life and my community – and I think they’ve struggled to change the narrative and to connect.

“I think there is more to come, more on the horizon, but my reflection on the last two years from our perspective is a positive one.”

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What might co-operative government look like?

Prowle believes Burnham’s arrival into the heart of government presents an opportunity to go further on co-operative policies and said that he had long been involved in and “understands” its values.

“He talked about the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844 and what they achieved in changing the way that politics works for working people and asks why can’t we do that again. This is someone that feels it very deeply. We worked closely with him as Greater Manchester Mayor on a number of things that were aligned with our agenda there.”

So what would a co-operative government look like in practice?

“It’s building on the foundations of the last few years. Working with our parliamentary group, we have been really successful in embedding some of these principles across government. You hear Andy talk about wanting to rewire the state and rewire the economy. 

“I did a report called Grassroots Growth, which was basically saying economic growth is vital, it’s vital to fund public services and it’s vital for us to build the kind of country we want to build – but the kind of growth that we seek is really important as well. 

“The co-operative economy is all about keeping wealth and power local and allowing local people to share in the wealth that is produced by business and by public services. I think Andy understands that and I think there will be interest in those kinds of solutions.

“It will also be about this question of community power. There’s been really strong indications from Andy about this huge interest in devolution. For the co-op movement, devolution to the town hall is great, but we want to see devolution beyond that as well. What does a transfer of power from Westminster to communities look like to local people, and how does it change their lives?”

‘Burnham gave a Co-operative speech’

Having listened to Burnham set out his vision for Britain in last week’s speech in Manchester, Prowle had no doubt that he would be a Co-operative Prime Minister when he enters Downing Street.

“I think it was a Co-operative speech. I think his idea that the fundamental principle that politics and power have not worked for large swathes of the country and many communities is one that we would absolutely share. Our Community Britain work has shown there is incredibly strong community power across the country, and what it needs is a government willing to step forward, support it – and want to grow it, expand it and see it thrive.

“I sometimes push back on this comparison with ‘levelling up’ or whatever Tory programmes people like to hearken back to. This isn’t about the state stepping back and asking communities to do everything. It’s about the state stepping forward and working with communities to unleash their full potential.”

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‘How do we build things that can’t just be taken away?’

For Prowle, co-operative policies such as the community ownership of assets aren’t just a ‘nice to have’ – it can have significant benefits for the whole of society.

“The way it comes to life is amazing. What you have is these Grade II listed buildings that have been sat vacant for a generation, in some cases attracting anti-social behaviour and drugs and difficult things for the community. They get taken into community ownership and they have a totally new lease of life and become these amazing spaces.

“That then has massive social benefits, health benefits, and community cohesion benefits. People talk more to their neighbours. They vote more because they understand what politics can do for them.

“The assumption I’d like to challenge is the idea that community power or co-ops or alternative ownership is not a serious policy solution to some of the biggest challenges that we face. I think all the evidence suggests that this is serious and has massive potential.”

Crucially, Prowle also notes that community-owned assets cannot be stripped away by any new government that seeks to rip up Labour policy in the future.

“I was born in 1997, so I’m a child of Blair. Sometimes my challenge to people that were around during New Labour is they did some life-changing, phenomenal things – but it was all dismantled. By the time I was old enough to understand politics, it had all gone. How can we use the principles of power and ownership to build things that can’t just be taken away?

“A community centre that has been bought by the community and is owned by the people who use it can’t just be defunded by a new government or new local authority – it outlasts it.”

‘Now is our moment – and I do really believe that’

With the Co-operative Party set to hold significant sway upon Burnham’s ascendency to Downing Street, what is Prowle’s message to members inspired by the next Prime Minister and his politics?

“If you want to be a part of the movement that has really radical, interesting, creative ideas about how our economy, society and communities could look very different to how they look now, join and get involved.

“Now is our moment – and I do really believe that. If we can play our cards right and if we can make the most of the moment, we could see the growth in co-op values, co-op policies, co-op principles on a genuinely unprecedented scale.

“We are as a movement hugely optimistic about the future. I think we have a vision of the country that is different from the one that we’re often sold, and I’m really excited to see what we can do with it.”

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