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Cameron launches 'co-op movement' | |
(about 15 hours later) | |
David Cameron has outlined plans to help people establish co-operatives which could set up or run local public services such as schools in England. | |
The Conservative Co-operative Movement would seek to promote co-ops which, he said, provide "flexibility and dynamism that a central state agency lacks". | |
The schools would be taxpayer funded but owned by parents and the community. | The schools would be taxpayer funded but owned by parents and the community. |
Education minister Jim Knight said it was a "wheeze" and the idea of co-ops running schools was "nothing new". | |
'One nation' | |
Mr Cameron unveiled the plan in Manchester as ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith released a report outlining the problems of social breakdown in the city. | |
It will be a resource for Conservative activists and local community groups of all kinds, wanting to set up their own co-ops to take over the management of local public services David Cameron Manchester 'left behind' In full: Cameron's speech | |
Mr Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice survey on Manchester suggests a picture of educational failure, high levels of youth crime, unemployment, widespread family breakdown and severe alcohol abuse. | Mr Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice survey on Manchester suggests a picture of educational failure, high levels of youth crime, unemployment, widespread family breakdown and severe alcohol abuse. |
Mr Cameron said it was great to feel the "energy and optimism" in Manchester, which he said was enjoying rapid economic growth. | |
But he said Mr Duncan Smith's report showed the city was in danger of becoming a "two tier" one with fast economic growth alongside continuing social problems. | |
Independent of party | |
He said he was a "one nation" politician and said he was "passionate" about tackling social breakdown. | |
The Conservative Co-operative Movement "will be independent of the Conservative Party", he said. | |
"But it will be a resource for Conservative activists and local community groups of all kinds, wanting to set up their own co-ops to take over the management of local public services. | "But it will be a resource for Conservative activists and local community groups of all kinds, wanting to set up their own co-ops to take over the management of local public services. |
Labour have already given parents the power to draw up plans for their own schools Jim KnightEducation minister Analysis: Cameron's coup? | |
"It will campaign for the principles of local, democratic, voluntary, public ownership of public services and public facilities." | "It will campaign for the principles of local, democratic, voluntary, public ownership of public services and public facilities." |
Tory school reforms would create "a new generation of co-operative schools in our country", in the same way as Sweden, which has more than 100, and Spain, which has more than 600. | |
"So I want to explore how we can create a new generation of co-operative schools in Britain, funded by the taxpayer, but owned by parents and the local community," he said. | |
Centre-right principles | |
Mr Cameron said it was appropriate to launch the new organisation in Manchester, just a few miles away from Rochdale, where the first co-operative movement in the world was created. | |
He said it was a "shame" that the movement was associated with the "left", when its principle "captures precisely the vision of social progress that we on the centre-right believe in". | |
For the government, Mr Knight said: "Labour have already given parents the power to draw up plans for their own schools and we continue to back the co-operative and mutual sector's involvement in education." | |
'Tory neglect' | |
He said Labour had "nurtured" co-operatives which had experienced "neglect and damage" under the last Conservative government. | |
Co-operatives are organisations which are owned by their members, and run for their benefit. | |
Well known examples are John Lewis and building societies such as Nationwide. In politics there is also a Co-operative Party, which is closely affiliated with the Labour Party. | |
Schools Secretary Ed Balls is one of 29 MPs, who stood for the "Labour and the Co-operative Party" at the last general election. | |
The Co-operative Bank is also one of the party's biggest lenders. | |
The Conservative Co-operative Movement's chairman will be Jesse Norman, a Tory parliamentary candidate in Hereford and former director of a co-operative enterprise. |
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