Traditionalists at the food- to- funerals Co-operative Group have been challenged to support plans to overhaul the running of the mutual business to secure its future.

Former City minister Lord Myners (pictured) has revealed his plans for saving the ailing Co-op – which last month reported annual losses of £2.5 billion – but said he is “less confident” the group will choose the radical decisions he believes are needed to overcome the deficiencies in its governance.

His proposals for abolishing the group’s 21-member board and replacing it with a slimmed-down body to take commercial decisions,will be put before the Co-op’s annual meeting on Saturday, May 17.

But regional membership boards and independent societies that hold sway in the group are reported to be unhappy about the proposals. Lord Myners said: “Radical decisions on governance structure need to be taken very soon – and with resolution – if the Co-op, as my mother knew it, is to be saved.”

The report follows a critical review by former Treasury mandarin Sir Christopher Kelly.

He blamed the bank’s problems on executives running the business following its ill-fated merger with the Britannia Building Society, including disgraced former bank chairman Paul Flowers, a former Bradford councillor yesterday convicted of drugs charges, and the former group chief executive, Bradford-born Peter Marks.