The Co-operative Group POLITICAL

Target: The Co-operative Group Limited, United Kingdom Domain: Political Evidence cutoff: 23 October 2026 Coverage: Corporate communications, territorial sourcing, retail policies, political financing, governance, institutional relationships and leadership conduct.

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Official position on Israel and Palestine

The Co-operative Group’s documented policy concerning Israeli settlements predates the current Gaza conflict. Its official 2026 member-motion update states that the company has maintained a policy against sourcing products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 2007. The company described this restriction as continuing in 2026.¹

On 17 May 2025, Co-op members approved Individual Member Motion 13, concerning trading with Israel, by 72.80% to 27.20%. The motion was advisory and therefore did not itself compel the board to cease trading.²

The published motion requested that the board cease all trading with Israel, referred to Gaza and drew a comparison with Co-op’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.¹

On 24 June 2025, The Co-operative Group announced a board-approved sourcing policy covering countries for which its stated criteria identified serious and sustained human-rights abuses or violations of international law. Israel was among 17 designated countries.³

The policy provided for a phased withdrawal of identifiable products and ingredients originating from the affected countries, with implementation beginning in June 2025. The announcement identified carrots from Israel, vodka from Russia and mangoes from Mali as examples.³

In its 2026 update, Co-op stated that the new policy followed a review of sourcing practices and that the 2025 Israel motion had demonstrated member concern about the issue. The update reaffirmed that Israel was one of the 17 countries identified for action.¹

Contemporaneous independent reporting confirmed the member vote and recorded the company’s explanation that it was reviewing its sourcing policy to reflect its values, principles and members’ views.⁴

Comparative public positions

The 2025 member motion specifically invoked Co-op’s March 2022 response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a precedent for removing Israeli products. The company’s published 2026 update preserves that wording as part of the original member proposal.¹

Co-op’s June 2025 announcement applied its revised sourcing framework across 17 countries, including Israel and Russia, rather than adopting an exclusively Israel-specific policy.³

The company’s 2025 AGM also approved a National Members’ Council motion titled “Hate divides communities, co-operation builds them”, with 95.88% voting in favour.²

In September 2024, Co-op launched an inclusion campaign using the same message, alongside its Social Mobility, Inclusion and Belonging strategy. The campaign addressed community division and inclusion in the United Kingdom.⁵

The company’s member-engagement reporting subsequently connected the peacebuilding campaign with its sourcing-policy review and members’ concerns about international conflict.⁶

Market framing

Co-op’s June 2025 announcement framed sourcing restrictions through co-operative values, human rights, commercial integrity and the promotion of peace. Its stated criteria included international assessments, anticipated benefits for affected communities and consequences for the business.³

The company’s 2026 reporting continued to present the policy as part of member-led ethical sourcing and responsible business activity.⁶

No public evidence identified of company statements describing Israeli settlement activity as a strategic market opportunity.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Territorial presence and historical trade

The Co-operative Group’s 2026 member-motion update confirms a longstanding restriction on sourcing products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The company dates that restriction to 2007.¹

A UK parliamentary Early Day Motion in May 2012 addressed the company’s decision concerning Israeli settlement sourcing, documenting that the policy had attracted parliamentary attention during that period. This historical evidence is [pre-2020]; the company described its settlement restriction as continuing in 2026.^{7, 1}

The June 2025 sourcing announcement established a broader restriction encompassing identifiable products and ingredients originating from Israel, rather than only products originating in settlements.³

Contemporaneous June 2025 reporting described the announced withdrawal of Israeli carrots from Co-op stores and identified the policy as covering products and ingredients from 17 countries.⁸

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group-owned factories, offices, warehouses, settlement retail outlets, military installations or service contracts operating inside Israeli settlements.

No public evidence identified of direct Co-operative Group equipment sales or service contracts with the Israeli military, Israeli Ministry of Defence, settlement councils or settlement security organisations.

Legal and regulatory scrutiny

The UK government’s June 2026 overseas-business guidance states that businesses should avoid economic and financial activities in Israeli settlements, including procurement, investment and transactions directly benefiting settlements. The guidance also describes the OHCHR settlement-business database established under Human Rights Council resolution 31/36.⁹

The UK government’s notice to importers, updated on 22 August 2025, states that products originating from Israeli settlements in territories occupied since June 1967 do not qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement.¹⁰

The UK government announced additional settlement-related sanctions and strengthened business-risk guidance on 9 June 2026, including warnings concerning economic activity in Israeli settlements.¹¹

No public evidence identified of a settlement-related enforcement action, judicial judgment, regulatory penalty or procurement violation specifically involving The Co-operative Group.

No verified finding of The Co-operative Group’s inclusion in the OHCHR settlement-business database was established in the research available for this audit.

Civil-society and boycott campaigns

The Co-operative Group has been the subject of public campaigning concerning its Israeli sourcing practices. In May 2025, members voted on a motion calling for the removal of Israeli goods, which received 72.80% support.²

UK Lawyers for Israel publicly opposed the proposed motion, criticised its wording and called for its rejection under Co-op’s rules. The motion nevertheless proceeded to a member vote and was approved on 17 May 2025.^{12, 2}

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre recorded the successful member motion, accompanying civil-society demands and the company’s response that the resolution was advisory while a sourcing review was underway.⁴

The company’s board subsequently announced the wider 17-country sourcing policy on 24 June 2025.³

Friends of Al-Aqsa later cited Co-op’s June 2025 sourcing decision in its Check The Label campaign as an example of a retailer changing its approach to Israeli products.¹³

No public evidence identified of a formal boycott campaign against The Co-operative Group arising from documented financial support for Israeli settlements or the Israeli military.

Settlement sponsorship and endorsements

No public evidence identified of The Co-operative Group sponsoring Israeli settlement events, providing financial support to settlement organisations or publicly endorsing settlement expansion.

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

Employee relations

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group disciplinary proceedings, employee dismissals, employment-tribunal judgments or litigation specifically concerning staff support for Palestine, Palestinian symbols or opposition to Israeli government policy.

No public evidence identified of litigation by The Co-operative Group against trade unions concerning Palestine-related speech or organised workplace activity.

Platform and editorial policy

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group algorithmic moderation, digital-content suppression or editorial enforcement targeting Palestinian or Gaza-related speech.

No public evidence identified of regulatory proceedings concerning geographically asymmetric moderation of Israel-Palestine content by a Co-operative Group platform.

Retail and supply-chain practices

Co-op’s published member-motion update states that the company had excluded products sourced from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 2007. The historical policy was described as continuing in the company’s 2026 reporting.¹

On 24 June 2025, the company announced a wider sourcing restriction affecting identifiable goods and ingredients from 17 countries, including Israel. The policy was to be implemented progressively.³

The company’s 2026 member-engagement reporting stated that, following its sourcing review, Co-op no longer sourced from countries identified under its revised human-rights criteria.⁶

The UK government’s August 2025 import guidance provides the regulatory context for identifying and treating goods originating from Israeli settlements differently from goods originating within Israel’s internationally recognised territory.¹⁰

No public evidence identified of a regulatory finding that The Co-operative Group deliberately mislabelled settlement products as originating in Israel.

No independently verified supplier-by-supplier reconciliation of the company’s announced June 2025 withdrawal was established.

Palestinian supplier partnerships

In October 2024, Palestinian social enterprise Zaytoun announced a retail partnership introducing its Fairtrade-certified organic extra virgin olive oil into 250 Co-op stores across the United Kingdom. Zaytoun described the arrangement as providing Palestinian producers with greater market access and visibility.¹⁴

During Ramadan 2025, The Co-operative Group promoted Palestinian supplier Zaytoun’s products, including Medjoul dates and olive oil. The supplier’s own Ramadan material promoted Palestinian Medjoul dates and support for Palestinian producers.¹⁵

The company’s published Zaytoun donation terms, previously recoverable through search indexing, described a commitment to donate 100% of trading profits from in-store sales of Zaytoun 250g dates to Zaytoun Community Interest Company until 1 April 2025. The indexed terms specified a £4 member price and £5 non-member price; the precise donation commitment and amounts transferred remain unverified through a directly accessible primary financial record.^{14, 15}

No public evidence identified of a regulatory action concerning the company’s retail promotion of Palestinian products.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

Marketing and corporate identity

The Co-operative Group publicly describes its co-operative model through member participation, democratic governance and social values. Its 2025 AGM documentation shows members voting on board appointments, policy motions and proposed political expenditure.¹⁶

In September 2024, the company launched its “Hate Divides Communities. Co-operation Builds Them” inclusion campaign, linking its commercial identity to community participation and co-operation.⁵

No public evidence identified of Israeli military heritage, Israeli defence-sector origins or Israeli state-security relationships being used in Co-operative Group commercial branding.

Institutional relationships and peacebuilding initiatives

The company’s peacebuilding campaign describes a collaboration with Brewgooder and Taybeh Brewery, a Palestinian brewery based in the West Bank, to produce Sun & Stone Lager using Taybeh’s original recipe.¹⁷

Co-op stated that the product would be available in selected stores from 10 September 2025 for nine weeks, with proceeds supporting communities in Palestine and the wider Middle East, including a commitment to the Disasters Emergency Committee Middle East Appeal with a stated minimum donation of £20,000.¹⁷

The same campaign features Wahat Al Salam Neve Shalom, an Israeli-Palestinian community in Israel, as an example of co-operation between communities. The company presents this as a peacebuilding case study.¹⁷

On 9 July 2025, The Co-operative Group signed the United Kingdom Armed Forces Covenant, pledging support for the UK armed-forces community, including veterans, reservists and military families.¹⁸

The Armed Forces Covenant record concerns the United Kingdom’s military community and does not identify an Israeli military partnership.¹⁸

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group sponsorship of Israeli settlement organisations, Israeli military public-relations initiatives or state-backed campaigns promoting settlement expansion.

No public evidence identified of Israeli government honours or defence-sector awards accepted by Co-operative Group executives in connection with their corporate roles.

Palestinian agricultural partnerships

On 1 October 2024, Zaytoun announced that Co-op would distribute its Fairtrade-certified Palestinian olive oil through 250 UK stores. Co-op’s Head of Commercial, Greg Goodwin, publicly welcomed the supplier’s responsible-sourcing and Fairtrade commitments.¹⁴

The October 2024 announcement identified the partnership as a means of expanding market access for Palestinian agricultural producers in the West Bank.¹⁴

Conversations that Count - February 2026

On Monday 9 February 2026, The Co-operative Group hosted “Conversations that Count: Crisis, Conflict and Co-operation” at its headquarters at 1 Angel Square, Manchester. The company’s publicly indexed campaign page directly confirms the date and venue.¹⁷

The company describes the programme as a day of discussions examining co-operation as a means of peacebuilding and strengthening social cohesion. It identifies five panel sessions involving speakers and experts.¹⁷

The company’s event description also identifies personal stories, live cooking demonstrations and stalls featuring participating brands, including Salaam Cola and Tony’s Chocolonely.¹⁷

The corporate campaign page advertises recordings of all five panel sessions. The complete panel proceedings and individual contributions were not independently verified during this expansion.¹⁷

This February 2026 programme forms part of the company’s publicly documented peacebuilding communications following its September 2024 inclusion campaign and September 2025 Palestinian brewery collaboration.^{5, 17}

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

Political advocacy and lobbying

The Co-operative Group’s 2025 AGM included a resolution seeking authority for political expenditure, including political-party donations or subscriptions, of up to £750,000 for the year beginning 1 January 2026. Members approved the resolution by 69.07% to 30.93%.¹⁶

That vote authorised a maximum amount of potential expenditure and did not establish that the full amount was spent or that any payment concerned Israel or Palestine.¹⁶

The company’s 2025 AGM also approved the peacebuilding motion sponsored by its National Members’ Council.²

The June 2025 sourcing-policy announcement represented a board-level corporate policy decision responding to member concerns about international conflicts and human rights.³

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group lobbying for Israeli settlement expansion, Israeli military assistance, anti-BDS legislation or restrictions on Palestinian solidarity campaigning.

No public evidence identified of a Co-operative Group political-action committee or Israel-related political-donation vehicle.

Corporate political contributions

The Co-operative Group’s 2025 annual report, published in 2026, discloses actual donations totalling £598,600 to the Co-operative Party during 2025, unchanged from the £598,600 reported for 2024.¹⁹

The company identifies this payment as its financial subscription to the Co-operative Party, made in accordance with members’ approval at the 2024 AGM.¹⁹

The annual report separately records that members approved a political-expenditure ceiling of £750,000 for the year beginning 1 January 2026 at the 2025 AGM.¹⁹

The £598,600 represents reported expenditure during 2025, whereas £750,000 represents an authorised maximum for 2026. The annual report does not attribute the subscription to any Israel- or Palestine-specific political activity.¹⁹

Corporate financing and donations

The company’s peacebuilding programme included a 2025 commercial collaboration with Brewgooder and Taybeh Brewery and a commitment to humanitarian fundraising through the Disasters Emergency Committee Middle East Appeal.¹⁷

The published campaign material identifies humanitarian beneficiaries and does not describe contributions to the Israel Defense Forces, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, settlement councils or Israeli military-welfare organisations.¹⁷

No public evidence identified of corporate contributions to FIDF, JNF/KKL, Regavim, Im Tirtzu, Lev Echad, Israeli military reservist funds or Israeli settlement-building organisations.

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group corporate investment specifically financing Israeli defence, military-surveillance or settlement-security enterprises.

Crisis-related mobilisation

The company’s 2025 campaign made retail distribution available for the Sun & Stone Lager collaboration, with proceeds intended to support communities affected by conflict and the Disasters Emergency Committee Middle East Appeal.¹⁷

The February 2026 Conversations that Count event used the company’s Manchester headquarters to host discussions concerning conflict, peacebuilding and social cohesion.¹⁷

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group provision of free transport, logistics, computing infrastructure, accommodation, supplies or other corporate resources to Israeli military operations during the Gaza conflict.

Constructive notice and subsequent conduct

The September 2024 inclusion campaign, May 2025 membership vote, June 2025 sourcing announcement, September 2025 Palestinian brewery collaboration and 2026 member-motion update establish that the company’s relevant public activity continued after 19 July 2024 and after November 2024.^{5, 2, 3, 17, 1}

The 9 February 2026 Conversations that Count programme documents a further peacebuilding event after both dates.¹⁷

The documented post-November 2024 actions concern peacebuilding communications, member governance, humanitarian fundraising and restrictions on sourcing from Israel and other designated countries.^{3, 17}

No public evidence identified of post-November 2024 corporate donations to Israeli military-welfare bodies or settlement organisations.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Ownership and governance

The Co-operative Group operates as a member-owned business. Its governance structure provides members with voting rights over specified directors, annual resolutions and advisory member motions.¹⁶

The 2025 annual report describes the company’s board governance and records appointments and departures during 2025 and early 2026, including the appointment of independent and member-nominated directors.¹⁹

The 2026 AGM reporting stated that active membership had increased from 6.2 million at the end of 2024 to approximately 7.38 million by May 2026.²⁰

The company’s formal governance and public communications describe a commercial co-operative serving members and communities, with elected representation and board oversight.¹⁹

No public evidence identified of an Israeli state-held equity interest, golden share, government-appointed controlling director or founding constitutional obligation to advance Israeli geopolitical interests.

Group companies and acquisitions

A Peterborough City Council licensing record identifies Co-operative Group Food Ltd as the applicant for a UK retail premises licence, establishing a named operating company within the group’s retail activity.²¹

The Competition and Markets Authority reported that Co-operative Group Limited completed its acquisition of The Southern Co-operative Limited on 26 July 2026.²²

On 29 September 2026, the CMA stated that proposed remedies concerning 15 convenience stores and two funeral homes were under consideration following concerns about local competition arising from that acquisition.²²

The CMA’s published investigation concerns local competition in grocery retail and funeral services; the cited decision does not establish an Israel-related political or military relationship.²²

No public evidence identified of an Israel-related state partnership, settlement operation or military contract attributable to The Southern Co-operative Limited in the materials examined.

No public evidence identified of an Israel-related political-financing arrangement attributable to Co-operative Group Food Ltd.

Foundational mandate

The company’s member-governance framework and annual reporting describe a commercial co-operative pursuing member and community interests.^{16, 19}

No public evidence identified of a foundational obligation to advance Israeli government policy, military infrastructure, settlement activity or a state-directed geopolitical programme.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Leadership identification and chronology

The Co-operative Group’s 2025 annual report names Debbie White as Group Chair and records changes to the company’s board, including the appointments of Lord Simon Woolley, Wais Shaifta, Mitch Oliver and Ronny Gottschlich.¹⁹

The annual report also records the transition from Shirine Khoury-Haq to Kate Allum as Interim CEO, effective 30 March 2026.¹⁹

Co-op’s public biography confirms that Kate Allum became Interim CEO on 30 March 2026, following service as a Member Nominated Director. Her disclosed experience includes executive leadership at First Milk and Cedo Limited and non-executive roles in other UK organisations.²³

On 10 August 2026, Co-op announced that Debbie White was stepping down as Group Chair and that Moni Mannings OBE would become Interim Chair.²⁴

The leadership identified in these corporate disclosures provides the relevant named individuals for examination of political advocacy, charitable giving and organisational affiliations during their respective periods of office.^{19, 23, 24}

Executive public statements

In the June 2025 sourcing announcement, Debbie White supported the revised policy in her capacity as Group Chair and linked the decision to the company’s ethical-sourcing commitments and member participation.³

Contemporaneous reporting quoted White welcoming the company’s response to member concerns and describing the new policy as a continuation of its ethical-sourcing approach.⁸

In October 2024, Co-op Head of Commercial Greg Goodwin publicly welcomed the Zaytoun partnership, referring to responsible sourcing and Fairtrade commitments.¹⁴

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group executives publicly endorsing Israeli settlement expansion, Israeli military operations in Gaza or violence against Palestinian civilians.

No public evidence identified of a company director issuing a public call for donations to the Israeli military or Israeli settlement organisations.

Personal philanthropy and financial interests

No public evidence identified of verified personal donations by the identified Group Chair, Interim Chair, current or former CEO, CFO or other named directors to FIDF, JNF/KKL, Israeli military-welfare organisations or settlement-development groups.

No public evidence identified of executive-controlled family foundations financing Israeli military or settlement organisations.

No public evidence identified of executive equity investments specifically linked to Israeli defence or settlement-surveillance companies.

Board affiliations and advocacy organisations

The annual report and corporate biographies establish the company’s board composition and several directors’ disclosed professional backgrounds.^{19, 23}

No public evidence identified of the identified controlling executives or board members holding a leadership position in AIPAC, Conservative Friends of Israel, FIDF, Regavim, Im Tirtzu or an organisation specifically advocating Israeli settlement expansion.

No public evidence identified of Co-operative Group directors participating, in their corporate capacities, in Israeli military-fundraising events, settlement conferences or campaigns opposing Palestinian rights.