The UK political landscape has a distinctly purple hue in 2026, with the Co-op Party marking its first prime minister in its 100-year history.
Co-operation has long been linked with the Labour Party, but it is not a relationship set in stone, and the values and principles of co-operatives chime with people sitting across the political spectrum – including within the UK’s Liberal Democrat Party.
Jo Grimond (1913-1993, pictured) led the UK’s Liberal Party for 11 years, from 1956 to 1967 (and again, briefly, on an interim basis, in 1976). The Liberals later merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Liberal Democrats, which today positions itself as the party of care, constitutional reform and internationalism.
This summer, a new campaign organisation was founded in his name, with the aim of putting co-ops, mutuals, social enterprises, and employee ownership back at the heart of Liberal Democrat policy.
Grimond was an early and consistent advocate for worker co-operation and shared ownership, and he helped found and chaired the organisation that became the Employee Ownership Association.
For the new group’s founders, naming the initiative after him is a deliberate act of reclamation, a reminder that support for co-operative enterprise has a long, if under-remembered, home on the liberal left, not just within Labour and the Co-operative Party.
“”The Grimond Society stemmed from a conversation on Lib Dem Voice, a website where people can write for the Lib Dems,” says Wales-based co-founder Jack Meredith. “I wrote a piece about Andy Burnham becoming PM and the Lib Dem position on co-operation. Dennis Delice replied asking, ‘Is there a group for co-operatives in the Liberal Democrats?’
“I checked. ‘No, there isn’t, I replied. ‘Let’s change that’. Now we’re trying to reclaim that tradition in the party of supporting co-
operatives and push for legislation that would benefit the sector.”
A former Labour member, Meredith found himself drifting from the party as he explored his own politics. “I was thinking, what do I believe in? What do I like? My answer was, well, I like co-operatives. I like mutuals. I like the idea of defending and expanding civil liberties, and making democracy more inclusive.
“I started reading up about Jo Grimond, Roy Jenkins, and other people around the centre-left sphere, then got to know my local Lib Dem Party, including people like Sam Bennett, a Lib Dem councillor in Swansea, who is a massive advocate for co-operatives and mutuals.
“That was when it dawned on me that co-operatives aren’t just a run-of-the-mill left-wing Labour idea, but something that’s actually agreed upon by people across the political spectrum.”
Related: What should Andy Burnham do for the sector?
Meredith, who works in the higher education sector, joined the Lib Dems in part because of their commitment to transgender rights and carers’ rights. “My mum’s been a carer for over a decade. I was a carer throughout Covid. I found they were the only party who weren’t just talking about care but understood what it meant, partly because of what Lib Dem leader Ed Davey had been through with his own family.”
Davey has spent most of his life as an unpaid family carer for his mother, grandmother, and disabled son.
Politics remains a personal passion for Meredith – before the Grimond Society, he helped found the Jenkinsite Policy Network, focused on pushing for civil liberties and equal rights – and one of his core beliefs is that the co-op movement doesn’t belong to any one party.
“I do want to make it really clear we have no issue with the Co-op Party,” he says. “The Co-op Party and Labour have done a fantastic job in advocating for the sector, I just think there are areas where Labour haven’t taken the greatest advantage of doing the best by co-operatives and mutuals.
“The Liberal Democrats have always stood for the idea of liberty and freedom from poverty, from homelessness, from what Beveridge called the evils of society. And why would we stop at the ballot box? Clearly it makes sense that if we want to try and enrich people’s lives, and help them find meaning, why aren’t we supporting co-operatives more and being more vocal about them?”
This was the main motivating factor behind the Grimond Society, he adds. “Co-operatives play such a huge role in not just the economy but in the fabric of British society, and we want to be an advocate. Whoever is in government, we want to hold their feet to the fire and say, ‘You’ve done good in some areas, but we think you could do better by co-ops and mutuals’.”
After a week, the society already had 50 members, who can either join as a lay member or an active core member. The society has had early conversations with Co-operatives UK and Welsh co-op federation Cwmpas, who have offered to help shape policy and provide insights into the needs and challenges of the sector that could realistically could be tackled with policy.
“We believe we can actually have a tangible impact here,” says Meredith, “and it means a lot that we’re being entrusted by people who believe we have a vehicle who can help them. It’s a big responsibility, but it’s also a big honour.”
The Lib Dems are the third-largest party in the UK, with 78 members of the House of Lords, 10 in the Scottish Parliament, one in the Welsh Senedd, and around 3,200 local council seats – but for Meredith, even one Welsh seat can have an impact.
“Jane Dodds, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and MS for Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd] managed to obtain €30m of social care under the last government and negotiated subsidised bus travel for 16-24-year-olds across Wales.
“Whether it’s one politician or several, I think as long as you’re able and willing to co-operate and work for the greater good, you can make things happen.”
The Grimond Society’s early aim is to get co-ops back on the agenda for the Lib Dems, and in the longer term, raise awareness and get more support for co-ops and mutuals.
“We will do whatever we can to try and support this whole movement, because it’s our core belief that democracy should never just stop at voting in elections, but should be something that plays a much bigger role in all of our lives,” says Meredith.
“I really do believe in reaching across the political aisle and Andy Burnham is somebody I’ve got a lot of respect for. I think he did great work in Manchester and that as prime minister he’s going to be very focused on the co-op sector. I’d really like to see the Lib Dems play a part.”
