Burnham urged to amend Building Societies Act (The Times)

Open letter by candidate in Nationwide board election signed by MPs and peers seeks parliamentary debate to ‘protect member democracy’

Guy Taylor
Sunday July 12 2026, 3:48pm

link: https://www.thetimes.com/article/3eb28de9-843d-4c75-bd70-e41460e407fa?shareToken=7d92ccbc3f719beddd7f52329c693905

The rebel Nationwide customer fighting for a board seat at Britain’s biggest building society has written to Andy Burnham, urging the prime minister-in-waiting to “protect member democracy” by considering changes to legislation overseeing how mutuals are governed.

In an open letter signed by MPs, peers and influential business figures, James Sherwin-Smith warned that governance practices in the sector had become “increasingly out of step with modern expectations” and that a parliamentary debate over the Building Societies Act of 1986 was “overdue”.

“Britain rightly values its mutual sector.
Preserving public trust in building societies requires governance arrangements that are beyond reproach, not merely compliant with legislation drafted four decades ago,” he wrote.

The letter’s signatories include two members of the House of Lords, Lord Biggar of Castle Douglas and Lord Young of Acton, David Duffy, chairman of the Corporate Governance Institute, and Navendu Mishra, the MP for Stockport, who has previously written to the chancellor over concerns about the building society’s voting procedure.

It is timed ahead of Nationwide’s annual meeting on Wednesday, in which a protracted dispute between Sherwin-Smith and the customer-owned mutual over his campaign to join the board is expected to reach a head. Advanced voting closes on Monday morning but eligible members are still able to vote if they attend online on the day.

A former consultant, Sherwin-Smith is the first member-nominated candidate to appear on the ballot for more than two decades and has been fiercely critical of Nationwide’s handling of the election.

Central to the dispute has been the use of a so-called “quick vote” mechanism, which allows members to tick a single box to vote in line with the board’s recommendations on every resolution. Sherwin-Smith has also taken issue with the decision to hold the annual meeting virtually, which can limit the ability of members to ask unmoderated questions.

Any debate over legislation should pay
“particular attention” to election processes, he wrote in his latest letter, adding that “no board should be able to exercise disproportionate influence over who ultimately joins it.

“Parliament should now provide time to consider how the Building Societies Act can be updated to protect member democracy, strengthen accountability and ensure that the governance of mutual financial institutions meets the standards rightly expected in the 2lst century.”

Burnham’s office was approached for comment. Nationwide declined to comment.