Yvette Cooper

The Right Honourable Yvette Cooper MP
Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 October 2016
Preceded by	Tim Loughton (acting)
Shadow Home Secretary
In office 20 January 2011 – 12 September 2015
Leader	Ed Miliband Harriet Harman (Acting)
Preceded by	Ed Balls
Succeeded by	Andy Burnham
Shadow Foreign Secretary
In office 8 October 2010 – 20 January 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	David Miliband
Succeeded by	Douglas Alexander
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
In office 11 May 2010 – 7 October 2013
Leader	Harriet Harman (Acting) Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Theresa May
Succeeded by	Gloria De Piero
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office 11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman (Acting) Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Theresa May
Succeeded by	Douglas Alexander
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	James Purnell
Succeeded by	Iain Duncan Smith
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 24 January 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Andy Burnham
Succeeded by	Liam Byrne
Minister of State for Housing and Planning
In office 6 May 2005 – 24 January 2008
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Keith Hill
Succeeded by	Caroline Flint
Member of Parliament for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford Pontefract and Castleford (1997–2010)
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Geoff Lofthouse
Majority	15,428 (33.6%)
Personal details
Born	20 March 1969 Inverness, Scotland, UK
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Ed Balls (m. 1998)
Children	3
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford Harvard University London School of Economics

Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford since 2010, having been the MP for Pontefract and Castleford since 1997.

She served in the Cabinet between 2008 and 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. After Labour lost the 2010 general election, Cooper was appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary, then became Shadow Home Secretary in 2011.

On 13 May 2015, Cooper announced she would run to be Leader of the Labour Party in the leadership election following the resignation of Ed Miliband.^[1] Cooper came third with 17.0% of the vote in the first round.^[2] Cooper subsequently resigned from her position as Shadow Home Secretary in September 2015. In October 2016, Cooper was elected chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.^[3]

Early life and education

Cooper was born on 20 March 1969 in Inverness, Scotland. Her father is Tony Cooper, former General Secretary of the Prospect trade union, a former Non-Executive Director of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and a former Chairman of the British Nuclear Industry Forum.^[4] He was also a government adviser on the Energy Advisory Panel.^[5] Her mother was a maths teacher.^[6]

She was educated at Eggar's School, a comprehensive school in Holybourne, and Alton College, both in Alton, Hampshire. She read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford, and graduated with a first-class honours degree.^[7] It was there that she became friends with her future colleague, James Purnell. She won a Kennedy Scholarship in 1991 to study at Harvard University, and she completed her postgraduate studies with an MSc in Economics at the London School of Economics.

Early career

Cooper began her career as an economic policy researcher for Shadow Chancellor John Smith in 1990, before spending time working in Arkansas for Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1992. Later that year, she became a policy advisor to Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Harriet Harman.^[7] At age 24, Cooper developed chronic fatigue syndrome, which took a year to recover from.^[6] In 1994 she moved to become a research associate at the Centre for Economic Performance. In 1995, she became the chief economic correspondent of The Independent, remaining with the newspaper until her election to the House of Commons in 1997.^[7]

Member of Parliament

Cooper was selected to contest the safe Labour seat of Pontefract and Castleford at the 1997 general election, after Deputy Speaker Geoff Lofthouse announced his retirement. She held the seat with a majority of 25,725, and made her maiden speech on 2 July 1997, speaking about her constituency's struggle with unemployment.^[8] She served for two years on the Education and Employment Select Committee.

In government

In 1999, she was promoted as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health, and in 2003 moved to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. After the 2005 general election, she was promoted within the same department to become a Minister of State.

Cooper as Minister for Housing in 2007

Cooper was promoted to become Minister for Housing in 2007, after Gordon Brown became Prime Minister. Cooper was not formally a member of the Cabinet, but did attend Cabinet meetings. Shortly after taking the job, she was required to introduce the HIPS scheme. According to Conservative columnist Matthew Parris, Cooper conceived HIPS but avoided direct criticism for its problems because of her connection with Brown.^[9]

The Labour government under Brown had identified affordable housing as one of its core objectives. In July 2007, Cooper announced in the House that "unless we act now, by 2026 first-time buyers will find average house prices are ten times their salary. That could lead to real social inequality and injustice. Every part of the country needs more affordable homes — in the North and the South, in urban and rural communities".^[10]

In the reshuffle following Peter Hain's resignation on 24 January 2008, Cooper became the first woman ever to serve as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. As her husband, Ed Balls, was already a Cabinet Minister, her promotion meant that the two became the first married couple ever to sit in the Cabinet together. In 2009, Cooper was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Shadow Cabinet

After Labour left government in May 2010, Cooper and her husband Ed Balls were both mentioned in the press as a potential leadership candidates when Gordon Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party.

Before Balls announced his candidacy, he offered to stand aside if Cooper wanted to stand, but Cooper declined for the sake of their children, stating that it would not be the right time for her.^[11][12] She later topped the 2010 ballot for places in the Shadow Cabinet, and there was speculation that the newly elected Labour Leader Ed Miliband would appoint her Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.^[13][14][15] She would instead be appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary.

When Alan Johnson resigned as Shadow Chancellor on 20 January 2011, Cooper was appointed Shadow Home Secretary. Her husband, Ed Balls, who had previously served in that role, replaced Johnson as Shadow Chancellor.

Shadow Home Secretary

As Shadow Home Secretary she has spoken on the Labour Party Conference about the case regarding eastern Europeans who were mistreated by the migrant labour employers.^[16]

Cooper was strongly critical of the cuts to child tax credit announced by George Osborne in the July 2015 Budget, she authored the following statement in the New Statesman:

“

And remember David Cameron's pre-election pledge that child tax credit is “not going to fall." It was a lie. This is a shameful betrayal of parents working hard to support their kids and get on in life. In the 21st century working parents shouldn't have to go to food banks to put a hot meal on the table, as too many families now do.[17]

”

Allegations over allowances

In May 2009, it was revealed that together with her husband Ed Balls they changed the designation of their second home three times in a 24-month period. Following a referral to the parliamentary sleaze watchdog, they were exonerated by John Lyon, the Standards Commissioner. He said that they had paid capital gains tax on their homes and were not motivated by profit.^[18] Cooper and Balls bought a four-bedroom house in Stoke Newington, north London, and registered this as their second home (rather than their home in Castleford, West Yorkshire); this qualified them for up to £44,000 a year to subsidise a reported £438,000 mortgage under the Commons Additional Costs Allowance, of which they claimed £24,400.^[19] An investigation in MPs' expenses by Sir Thomas Legg found that Cooper and her husband had both received overpayments of £1,363 in relation to their mortgage. He ordered them to repay the money.^[20]

Twitter abuse

After Caroline Criado-Perez and several other prominent women received a large number of criminal threats (including rape threats) on the Twitter social networking service, Cooper wrote in July 2013 to Tony Wang, the general manager of Twitter UK:

“

Despite the scale and seriousness of these threats, the official response from Twitter continues to be extremely weak – simply directing Caroline away from Twitter towards the police, and, belatedly, directing users to abuse-reporting forms on Twitter. Of course it is right to report such abuse to the police, and it is very important that they investigate and pursue this case. But social media platforms also have a responsibility for the platform they give users. And in particular they have a responsibility not to tolerate this kind of abuse, rape threats and potentially criminal behaviour. (...) The response by Twitter has clearly been inadequate and fails not only Caroline but many more women and girls who have faced similar abuse on your social network. (...) I urge you to go further and ensure that Twitter carries out a full review of all its policies on abusive behaviour, threats and crimes, including more help for Twitter users who experience abuse, a clear complaints process and clear action from Twitter to tackle this kind of persecution.[21]

”

2015 Labour leadership election

Cooper speaking at the 2016 Labour Party Conference

In 2015, she was nominated by MPs as one of the four candidates for leadership of the party following its defeat in the 2015 general election and the resignation of Ed Miliband as party leader. Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly endorsed Cooper as his first choice for leader, with Andy Burnham in second place and Liz Kendall in third.^[22]

During the campaign, Cooper supported reintroducing the 50p income tax rate and creating more high-skilled manufacturing jobs. She proposed the introduction of a living wage for social care workers and the construction of 300,000 houses every year. Cooper disagreed that Labour spent too much while in government.^[23]

Cooper came third, securing 71,928 votes or 17.0% in the first round, compared to 59.5% for the winner Jeremy Corbyn.^[2]

Backbencher

After the 2015 leadership election, Cooper returned to the backbenches, after nearly 17 years on the frontbench.^[24] Building on her existing work on the European refugee crisis, Cooper was appointed chair of Labour's refugee taskforce, working with local authorities, community groups and trade unions to develop a sustainable and humanitarian response to the crisis.^[25][26] She spoke on the topic at Labour's annual conference in 2016.^[27]

After a vote of MPs on 19 October 2016, Cooper was elected chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, gaining more votes than fellow candidates Caroline Flint, Chuka Umunna and Paul Flynn.^[3]

Personal life

Cooper married Ed Balls on 10 January 1998^[28] in Eastbourne. Her husband was the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and a candidate in the 2010 Labour leadership election. They have two daughters and one son.^[29] Cooper and Balls were the first married couple to serve together in the British cabinet.^[30] In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.^[31]

References

1. Association, Press. "Yvette Cooper announces candidacy for Labour leadership". the Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
2. "Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership contest". BBC News. 12 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
3. "Yvette Cooper elected Chair of Home Affairs Committee". UK Parliament. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
4. "Yvette Cooper Official website". Yvettecooper.com. 20 February 2009. Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2010.
5. "Tony Cooper is new Chairman of BNIF". Nuclear Industry Association. 28 June 2002. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009.
6. Libby Brooks (13 August 2015). "Yvette Cooper profile: 'You don't have to choose between head and heart'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
7. Rachel Cooke (1 March 2014). "Yvette Cooper interview: Labour's quiet contender". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
8. "House of Commons Debates 2 July 1997 col 387–91". Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
9. Parris, Matthew (31 May 2007). "Why heroic Ruth should have been in Gordon's book". The Times. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011.
10. "£8 Billion investment and reforms announced to tackle housing shortages" (Press release). Department for Communities and Local Government. 23 July 2007. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2008.
11. "Yvette Cooper: Why I'm not standing for Labour leader – this time". The Guardian. London. 28 May 2010. Archived from the original on 30 May 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
12. Baldwin, Tom (14 May 2010). "Ed Balls offered to give up leadership bid in favour of his wife". The Times. London.
13. "Cooper tops shadow cabinet vote". BBC News. 7 October 2010. Archived from the original on 8 October 2010.
14. Groves, Jason (30 September 2010). "After brothers at war, now Mr & Mrs Balls fight for the same job as both go for Shadow Chancellor prize". Mail Online. London: Daily Mail. Archived from the original on 1 October 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
15. Clark, Tom (27 September 2010). "Shadow chancellor: the Labour party runners and riders". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 30 September 2010. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
16. Nigel Morris (24 September 2014). "Labour Party conference: Yvette Cooper promises to crack down on sweatshops". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
17. Wilby, Peter (8 July 2015). "Once again, the biggest losers from George Osborne's budget are women". Newstatesman.com. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
18. Prince, Rosa (15 May 2009). "Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper 'flipped' homes three times: MPs' expenses". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 29 May 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
19. Hope, Christopher (24 September 2007). "Ed Balls claims £27,000 subsidy for 2nd home". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 April 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
20. Sparrow, Andrew (4 February 2010). "MPs' expenses – the day's events as they happened". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010.
21. Cited by Matthew Taylor and Ben Quinn "Man held after banknote campaigner receives rape threats on Twitter", The Guardian, 28 July 2013.
22. Kunal Dutta (25 August 2015). "Gordon Brown endorses Yvette Cooper for Labour leader as Andy Burnham warns wrong choice could bring 'two decades of the Tories'". The Independent. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
23. "What are Yvette Cooper's policies?".
24. Wintour, Patrick (15 September 2015). "Yvette Cooper to focus attention on response to refugee crisis". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
25. Walker, Peter (16 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet in full". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
26. "Labour's Refugee Taskforce". Yvette Cooper. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
27. "Yvette's speech to Labour Annual Conference 2016". Yvette Cooper. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
28. Debrett's People of Today 2011 (Extract Editions ed.). 2011. p. 77. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
29. "Health minister celebrates birth". The Daily Telegraph. London. 27 August 2001. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
30. "The Cabinet: Who's Who". BBC News. 30 November 2009. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
31. "Woman's Hour Power list". BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 15 February 2013.

External links

• Yvette for Labour official site
• Yvette Cooper official site
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Articles authored at Journalisted