‘I’m popping to the Co-op’ is something many of us will say as we head out for some household essentials.

But, perhaps, few of us often think about what is behind this high street stalwart.

Co-operatives are businesses owned and run by the people who use them. They can be formed by employees, customers, or residents of a community.

There are many examples of co-operatives in the UK and around the world. They are present in retail, agriculture, financial services, travel, the funeral trade and many other sectors.

The United Nations designated 2025 the International Year of Co-operatives. It is promoting the role this business model plays in supporting sustainability, inclusive growth and community resilience.

I meet with local staff and representatives of co-operatives regularly.

Recently, this included a visit I was sorry to have to make.

Staff at the Central Co-op store on Smalley Drive in Oakwood had faced a violent robbery.

They were understandably shaken by the incident. But they responded magnificently, ensuring the vital and high-quality service the shop provides continued for its customers. They have my total admiration.

The visit underscored how much must be done to protect shop workers from the violence they should never face, and how retail crime pushes up prices for the law-abiding majority.

Retail crime has become endemic in recent years as police numbers have been cut, the prison system mismanaged to breaking point – and as some people have sadly committed theft as a consequence of the cost-of-living crisis.

This situation is unacceptable. It should never have been allowed to develop.

That is why I am pleased the new Labour government has committed to tackling retail crime.

This includes tough action through the Crime and Policing Bill. This bill will make assault of a shopworker a specific offence, and it will bring new measures to tackle low-level shop theft.

Labour’s pledge to boost police numbers and community policing will also go a long way to help.

A more joyful event with the Co-op and its supporters came at the start of March, when I attended an event to celebrate the reinstatement of Derby’s ‘Co-op cow’.

This illuminated sign – proclaiming ‘Co-op Milk: The Gateway to Health’ – was first erected in 1955 on top of Derby’s Central Hall. It was designed by the Derby Co-op Society to promote its dairy arm, and it featured a large cow.

The sign became a Derby icon over the following decades, with many locals saying their first sight of it after time away felt like a warm welcome home.

About 20 years ago, the sign’s electrics failed, and many thought this symbol of Derby was consigned to its past.

But Central Co-op’s society president Elaine Dean was unwilling to accept the much-loved cow would never grace Derby’s skyline again.

Buoyed by co-operative values and a love of Derby, she had it reinstated – this time, lit with eco-friendly LED lights.

Well done to Elaine and the Co-op team that have brought back Derby’s Co-op cow. What a way to celebrate the UN’s International Year of Co-operatives and bring more civic pride to Derby.