With campaigning under way for next May’s Senned elections, Welsh co-op development agency Cwmpas has issued a manifesto highlighting ways “to build an economy and communities that work for everyone”.
“By investing in co-operatives, social businesses and community-led models, we can create prosperity that lasts,” it says, “growth that lifts people out of poverty, builds shared assets, and strengthens the services and institutions we all rely on.”
The election campaign comes against a backdrop of increasing polarisation among voters in the UK and around the world. In Wales, opinion polls have seen the incumbent Labour Party falling behind the nationalist Plaid Cymru and populist Reform.
Cwmpas has set out 10 “clear and practical actions that would help Wales grow in an inclusive, sustainable way – creating stronger communities, more resilient businesses, and a fairer future”.
Firstly, it calls on the next Welsh government to Invest in specialist support and create a co-operative development hub to proactively identify, support, and scale new co-operative, employee-owned, and social businesses across key sectors and double the size of the employee-owned business sector in Wales.
It also wants policymakers to promote community ownership by introducing new laws, providing funding for communities to buy assets, and offering expert advice.
Social enterprises should be given more power to deliver community-led health services, adds Cwmpas, by simplifying how contracts are awarded and putting more value on social impact.
With social care, it wants to see a programme to support and expand social enterprise and co-op models, with investment in local training and support, and measures to ensure that co-operative values are built into social care policies and contract mechanisms .
Similarly, it wants to see investment in social businesses working on the net-zero transition.
And in terms of digital inclusion, Cwmpas wants ministers to expand the minimum digital living standard pilots to all household types across Wales, “facilitating its implementation by organisations in our communities”.
Related: Cwmpas calls on Welsh government to create co-op development hub
Citizen assemblies should be used to boost democracy, it adds, alongside the co-designing of services and investment in media literacy.
The next government should also Invest in the expansion of affordable community-led housing models, says the manifesto, by offering flexible, easy-access loans to get projects started and creating supportive policy framework.
Targeted support is needed for new and existing Welsh language community-led co-operatives and social businesses, it adds.
Finally, it wants ministers to “embed co-operative principles at the heart of rural economic development and help build a resilient food system by identifying opportunities for community ownership and social businesses … and supporting more co-operatives in the food sector.”
Cwmpas warns that communities ”are under pressure from stubborn poverty, rising costs, stretched services, and the impacts of climate change – yet, in our ongoing work, we’re seeing something truly inspiring: a readiness to embrace new approaches that put people and places at the heart of our economy”.
It adds: “There is a growing consensus that this is the way forward. The 2025 Future Generations Report has highlighted the importance of co-operative and community-led approaches. Oxfam and the Institute of Welsh Affairs have called for a wellbeing economy built on the same principles; and the UK Government has already committed to doubling the size of the co-operative sector. This is Wales’ moment to act.”
