Midcounties backs Co-op

RADICAL plans designed to save the Co-op Group from terminal decline have received a vote of confidence from the mutual’s largest independent society after a surprise U-turn.

The Midcounties Co-operative, which previously said it would reject the proposals, reversed that decision after 400 members backed key reforms over the weekend.

Former City minister Lord Myners last week unveiled details aimed at reforming the ‘labyrinthine’ structure of the Coop Group and introducing a more professional plc-style board to knock the company into shape.

He said the Co-op Group’s current 20-strong board, which includes a retired psychiatric nurse and a self-employed plasterer, are so financially illiterate some ‘cannot tell the difference between debit and credit’.

When the initial proposals were rushed out last month, the board of Midcounties said they would vote against the plans.

But Midcounties chief executive Patrick Gray said the group ‘urgently needs to bring its level of debt down and to establish a streamlined, competent board which can swiftly and cohesively address the critical issues’.

Warwickshire-based Midcounties is the largest of the independent societies which controls 22pc of the Co-op Group.

The backing comes ahead of a crunch vote of Co-op members at the group’s annual general meeting in Manchester on Saturday.