Lord Myners quits Co-operative Group governance role

After only four months into his review of the Co-operative Group’s governance, Lord Myners has quit his role. The former Labour city minister was brought into the Group...

After only four months into his review of the Co-operative Group’s governance, Lord Myners has quit his role.

The former Labour city minister was brought into the Group in December as its first senior independent non executive director to deal with “failings” and “misjudgements” over the past few years, which includes the loss of the Co-operative Bank. When releasing his interim report last month, he said the board had “collectively presided over losses of several billion pounds”.

Over the past few weeks, his review has received resistance both internally and externally. Within the Co-operative Group’s regions, the News understands that the majority of regional boards demanded further consultation and negotiation with Lord Myners alongside Group chair Ursula Lidbetter. Other democrats were also backing a plan to vote against the Myners proposals in the hope of achieving a better representation of lay directors on the main Group board.

Lord Myners proposed a new Group board made up of an independent chair, with no previous association or involvement with the Group; alongside six to seven independent non-executive directors; and two executive directors. He said the Group’s current elected membership of over 500 would be reduced to 100 representatives on a national membership council.

Since the release of the interim report, Lord Myners has received further friction from independent retail societies that have five seats on the main board, and would also be removed alongside democrats. Independents control around 22% of the voting power, while regional boards hold the rest.

According to the Guardian, Lord Myners quit his role on Wednesday.

David Blowe, chair of Southern Co-operative, said of the report: “There are some important details that still need to be worked through to ensure that the legitimate interests of independent societies in the future of the Group are protected.”

While, Mike Faulkner, secretary of East of England Co-op, outlined the history of the Group and feelings of independents: “Those original retail co-operatives had an equivalent of an ‘equity stake’ in CWS and the independents may feel aggrieved if they are asked to surrender their historic claim to this inherited value.”

This week, the board of Midcounties Co-operative voted unanimously against the proposals. Its president Patrick Gray said: “We must stand up and fight for the principle of genuine democratic control, which is the heart of what makes co-operation important not just to active co-operators, but to the future economic and social well-being of our country, where this powerful concept was born.

“Power must be put back into the hands of members by guaranteeing democratic best practice, opening governance up to a broad range of energetic, experienced, elected directors capable of holding management to account.”

• For more on the Myners review, visit the mini-guide.

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