Last week I visited CNI – Cooperative Network Infrastructure – based at Ashton Old Baths. This is a tremendous and unique local asset, which consists of a publicly owned fibre network that CNI, a cooperative, then operates and sells services from.

It dates back to a decision fifteen years ago, when instead of spending a large annual sum to a private contractor to build its wide area network, Tameside Council did something brave and horizon-scanning and built its own infrastructure instead.

After five years, the network had paid for itself with only small ongoing maintenance costs. This network now covers most public sector infrastructure assets and is the spine from which domestic and residential fibre connections can be made.

Locally, it means businesses choosing Tameside as a base can be at a considerable competitive advantage with their fibre connectivity. We have several businesses already taking advantage of this but we need to make more people aware of it. Nationally, there are now eight different local authorities where CNI operates, from Blackpool to Sussex. I think there are important national policy lessons we could learn from this.

I’m proud to be a Labour MP; standing up for social justice, equality and working people is in my bones. But I’m equally proud to be a Co-Operative Party MP, because the values of mutualism, social responsibility, sustainability and co-operation are also key reflections of my priorities for a better Britain. Our area has a proud tradition of co-operativism, from its roots in Rochdale, and yet I’m clear that co-ops help us look to the future, not just the past.

Sometimes when I visit local schools, they ask me about that bit, what being a Co-Op MP means. I explain that a co-op is a business or organisation owned by its members to meet shared needs (they generally think this is sound), and that the Co-Operative Party exists to further these values and that model of organisation across society.

With me as Business Secretary, a Labour Government would double the size of the co-operative sector in the UK, bringing it into line with the role co-ops play in comparable economies, such as Spain. It is a key plank of my industrial strategy. I want to see more and more projects like CNI, that make commercial sense and offer value to communities all at once.

Thank you very much to Sean and Tim for showing me around CNI, and thanks also to everyone who devotes their time to building innovative and purposeful business partnerships. Good business is the way forward, and I’m keen to build a Britain where it is positively encouraged.