MPs Champion Credit Unions in Westminster Hall Debate

Thursday 30 October 2025

In a Westminster Hall debate on 21 October 2025, MPs from across the benches pressed the Government to deliver concrete support for the co-operative sector as part of a broader ambition to “double the size of the co-operative economy,”. The debate highlighted examples from the credit union movement across the country.

The debate, led by Jim McMahon MP emphasised the historical roots and modern relevance of co-operativism, invoking the 1844 Rochdale pioneers and the co-operative movement’s foundational values of democratic control, shared membership and community benefit. “If their call … to give working people power and a voice … that call is ever more urgent today,” McMahon said.

McMahon stated the co-operative sector in the UK already comprises some 7,400 co-ops with 16.6 million members and 240,000 employees, underpinned by 42 building societies and credit unions. He said the sector “is not a fringe part of the economy; it is absolutely foundational.”

McMahon urged the Government to clarify plans for the Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council, improve financial access, respond to the Law Commission’s review of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, and establish a co-operative development agency within Government.

Elsewhere, Alice Macdonald MP drew attention to her city’s Wherry Dragon credit union, warning that these institutions operate in a competitive landscape dominated by much larger financial players:

“I was just reading about Norwich’s Wherry Dragon credit union, which has won a national award for its campaign against loan sharks. … We must therefore do more to support credit unions, to increase their access to finance and to support them as they take their first steps.”

During the debate, Paul Waugh MP reminded colleagues of the sector’s roots and contemporary strength:

Paul said: “It is still a movement that is alive and kicking today. It is not a relic, as is evidenced by the Metro Moneywise credit union, which celebrated its 35th anniversary last week in a town hall ceremony in Rochdale at which I was pleased to be present.”

Waugh’s remarks underscored the continuity between the historic Rochdale pioneers and modern mutuals such as Metro Moneywise, which operates in the same town.

Read the full debate here.