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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Tory 'worker co-operatives' plan | Tory 'worker co-operatives' plan |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| The Tories have renewed a pledge to give public sector workers the chance to form co-operatives to run services. | The Tories have renewed a pledge to give public sector workers the chance to form co-operatives to run services. |
| Staff of taxpayer-funded services, such as primary school teachers and nurses, would decide how they were run - within certain national standards. | Staff of taxpayer-funded services, such as primary school teachers and nurses, would decide how they were run - within certain national standards. |
| Shadow chancellor George Osborne hailed the policy as "pretty radical". | Shadow chancellor George Osborne hailed the policy as "pretty radical". |
| But the Co-operative Party, which has 30 Labour MPs among its members including schools secretary Ed Balls, called the scheme "clueless". | But the Co-operative Party, which has 30 Labour MPs among its members including schools secretary Ed Balls, called the scheme "clueless". |
| Conservative leader David Cameron launched the Conservative Co-operative Movement in 2007, insisting that such groups embodied core Conservative values, and it was time to reclaim them from the political Left. | Conservative leader David Cameron launched the Conservative Co-operative Movement in 2007, insisting that such groups embodied core Conservative values, and it was time to reclaim them from the political Left. |
| At the weekend, he urged Labour supporters to keep an "open mind" about backing his party at the general election, and declared that the Tories were very much on the "centre ground". | At the weekend, he urged Labour supporters to keep an "open mind" about backing his party at the general election, and declared that the Tories were very much on the "centre ground". |
| 'No free-for-all' | 'No free-for-all' |
| Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme handing control of public services to the people who run them would be "as big a transfer of power to working people since the sale of council house homes in the 1980s". | Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme handing control of public services to the people who run them would be "as big a transfer of power to working people since the sale of council house homes in the 1980s". |
| One would hope that in any organisation where the bosses had completely lost the confidence of the staff then one would look at the future of those bosses George Osborne, shadow chancellor class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2010/02/the_john_lewis_state.htmllink">Peston: How would it work? | |
| "We are saying to public sector workers: 'if you want to, and only if you want to, you can create employee-led co-operatives and you can run state services, paid for by the taxpayer'. | "We are saying to public sector workers: 'if you want to, and only if you want to, you can create employee-led co-operatives and you can run state services, paid for by the taxpayer'. |
| "This is a power shift to public sector workers so that they take control of their own working environment and they get away from these top-down bureaucracies which have made life a misery for so many people in the public sector." | "This is a power shift to public sector workers so that they take control of their own working environment and they get away from these top-down bureaucracies which have made life a misery for so many people in the public sector." |
| He denied that it would result in a "complete free-for-all". | He denied that it would result in a "complete free-for-all". |
| "The check on quality here is that they would be contracting services to the local authority or the National Health Service and they would be providing a contract, for community nursing or for primary education. | "The check on quality here is that they would be contracting services to the local authority or the National Health Service and they would be providing a contract, for community nursing or for primary education. |
| "And we would be making sure, as taxpayers, that we were getting value for money and it was appropriately run and the standards the kids were being taught to were at the right level and the like." | "And we would be making sure, as taxpayers, that we were getting value for money and it was appropriately run and the standards the kids were being taught to were at the right level and the like." |
| 'Clueless' | 'Clueless' |
| Standards such as the national curriculum would remain, he said. | Standards such as the national curriculum would remain, he said. |
| "But the essential principle that people in the public sector, whether they are community nursing teams, primary schools, job centres, would be able to take ownership of their own enterprise and run it as a non-for-profit social enterprise or co-operative providing state services is exactly what we are talking about." | "But the essential principle that people in the public sector, whether they are community nursing teams, primary schools, job centres, would be able to take ownership of their own enterprise and run it as a non-for-profit social enterprise or co-operative providing state services is exactly what we are talking about." |
| It would mean teachers could effectively force out a head, he agreed. | It would mean teachers could effectively force out a head, he agreed. |
| "One would hope that in any organisation where the bosses had completely lost the confidence of the staff then one would look at the future of those bosses," he told the programme. | "One would hope that in any organisation where the bosses had completely lost the confidence of the staff then one would look at the future of those bosses," he told the programme. |
| But Michael Stephenson, general secretary of the Co-operative Party, said: "George Osborne's comments show the Tories are completely clueless on co-operatives. | But Michael Stephenson, general secretary of the Co-operative Party, said: "George Osborne's comments show the Tories are completely clueless on co-operatives. |
| "Mutuality is about giving communities a say in how services are run. That is about more than involving workers, it is about people running services as a community asset. The Tories don't have co-operative values. | "Mutuality is about giving communities a say in how services are run. That is about more than involving workers, it is about people running services as a community asset. The Tories don't have co-operative values. |
| "Just as Cameron's Conservative Co-operative movement turned out to be neither a Co-operative, nor a movement, George Osborne's plan for employee-run public services fails to balance the needs of consumers, the public, with the interests of the public-sector workers themselves." | "Just as Cameron's Conservative Co-operative movement turned out to be neither a Co-operative, nor a movement, George Osborne's plan for employee-run public services fails to balance the needs of consumers, the public, with the interests of the public-sector workers themselves." |