Webchat with Yvette Cooper, Labour shadow home secretary, WEDNESDAY 29 April, 11am

[RowanMumsnet]

We’re pleased to announce that our third and (probably) final politics webchat this (next) week will be with Yvette Cooper, Labour candidate for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, and Shadow Home Secretary, on Wednesday 29 April at 11am.

In the last Labour government she served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Housing Minister. Yvette recently launched Labour’s Women’s Manifesto with Harriet Harman and Gloria de Piero, featuring the infamous 'pink bus' (or 'magenta bus' if you’re that way inclined). She has been involved in policy debates on issues ranging from violence against women and compulsory sex ed, to immigration, policing and national security.

Yvette will be joining us for a live webchat at 11am on Wednesday 29 April. Do join in or leave a question on this thread if you can’t make it on the day. And do please remember our webchat guidelines.

Thanks
MNHQ

Hello. Am just arrived at Mumsnet Towers (now with cup of tea and promised biscuits) and looking forward to answering as many questions as possible

So Yvette is in the building and will kick off very shortly.

@CFSKate

If Labour get in what are you going to do to sort out the VIP child abuse? Establishment paedophiles should not escape justice, I don't care how old/ill they are, or how important.

BTW I remember you have suffered from CFS. I have been ill with CFS for over 30 years. In Norway drug trials using cancer drugs are successful for 2/3rds of patients. But to do a UK trial patients are desperately trying to fund it ourselves, I know it's not the job of the Home Sec, but would you take an interest in this?

Hi CFSKate. Really sorry you are suffering from CFS. I had it about 20 years ago and was off work for a year. its a horrible illness. Afraid i dont know about those trials but am interested to follow progress.

On child abuse, I agree with you that survivors voices need to be heard and we need to pursue both truth and justice. The Justice Goddard inquiry still isnt up and running and it really needs to get started as soon as possible - and we need to know it can follow investigations wherever they lead. I also think its right that there should be a review of the DPP decision in the Lord Janner case. These are rightly independent decisions, rather than for politicians, but wherever possible cases should go to court and there needs to be maximum transparency.

From a feminist point of view, what do you think about the Beach Body Ready/Protein World ads furore? I can't decide whether I think it's a fundamental feminist issue or a bit of a distraction.

And on that note (2 questions sorry) how would Labour improve the funding situation for women's refuges?

@Dinnerfourone

Hi Yvette,

I'm sure I'll think of a serious question later but I'm really intrigued to hear how Ed is dealing with his new found sex appeal?
what does Ed make of the Milifandom stuff ?
Personally, I don't think he's a patch on Ed Balls but horses for courses and that

Do you think this detracts from the serious election agenda or is all positive commentary on Ed good for Labour?

I think Milifandom is very funny. So does Ed. Justine just rolls her eyes. I guess the thing about social media is that it dances quickly from serious point to joke to flippant aside to confession to political argument. Like all our conversations do. But traditional TV, radio and newspapers don't. So I don't think it detracts, I think it cheerfully subverts.

What would a Labour government do to address the so called skills shortage that is driving immigration - surely training our young people to take up these types of work or encouraging companies to retain and retrain women returners should be part of the solution?

@gingercat12

Hi Yvette,

You have done and championed some fabulous research on how cuts disproportionately affect women. Do you think the message got through to the voters? And other than the pink bus do you think Labour did enough to "get the female vote out" and increase participation?

I think women can see it. In their pockets. I hear it from women voters up and down the country all the time - from working mums struggling to pay soaring childcare costs as tax credits are cut, to the woman I spoke to in Asda last year in tears about having to put her son to bed in a jumper because she couldn’t afford both the Bedroom Tax and her heating bill. The figures we commissioned from the House of Commons Library are really stark – of the £26bn being raised by George Osborne in tax, pay, benefit changes for deficit reduction, £22bn of it is coming from women, even though women still earn less and own less than men.

We're certainly campaigning hard to involve women in the election and the pink bus is picking me up later. Over 9 million women didn't vote last time and we need to change that this time round.

Hi Yvette,

Are you looking forward to working with Hilary Clinton, if she,s elected?

I,d love to see you as PM, The Beast Of Bolsover as Deputy.

I have warmed to Ed Miliband can,t abide the Brother

Good luck for the coming weeks, I'm hoping for a Labour/SNP coalition.

@BadgersArse

Now Yvette, YOUR HAIR IS AMAZING. I do love a gamine crop, but tell me, how do you keep it looking 'done' rather than just 'hair', iykwim?

And where do you stand on the when to wash it? Tristram Hunt advocates BEFORE bed, Nicky Morgan says that is so so wrong.

Thank you! On washing, I agree with Nicky. What is Tristram on about? Wash before bed and it sticks up in the morning. Oh....

@ISaidLeaveYourSisterAlone

Have you met Nicola Sturgeon? Do you think she's someone you could work with? I don't mean in coalition or formal deals as I know you've ruled that out. But just in general, do you think it would be possible to work constructively with her as SNP leader if you were in government - or would it be a living nightmare?

I don't know Nicola Sturgeon at all. I do respect her consistency over many years on Scottish independence. I just disagree with it. I was born in Inverness and brought up in England, and I still think we should be as concerned about people on zero hours contracts in Leeds as in Lanarkshire. I think we’re stronger as a country if we stand together than if we leave others to sink or swim alone. So it’s nothing personal about Nicola, but its hard to see how you can work with a party that just wants to divide us instead.

@JugglingFromHereToThere

Hi Yvette,

Do you agree that issues of particular importance to women are relatively neglected in politics? As an example maternity care seems woefullly under-resourced, especially post-natal care, but all of it really.
The education of our children is kicked around like a political football
Domestic abuse is only beginning to get the recognition and resourcing it deserves.
I could go on ....
So - the related question - do you feel you will be able to make a difference in women's lives if you become Home Secretary on (or just after) May 7th?

Yes too often they are. Even though often these are the issues that should matter to all of us and affect families, public services and our economy too. Women are more likely to be looking after small children than men, more likely to be caring for elderly relatives than men, more likely to be on low pay than men, more likely to be stuck on zero hours contracts than men, more likely to know what the other parents are saying at the school gate about problems at school. That's why we’ve been campaigning hard to get things like childcare, social care, the minimum wage and so on to be central to political campaigning.

Labour’s pledging today that we will increase tax credits at least in line with inflation in the next Parliament, whereas the Conservatives will have to cut them again given the scale of the £12bn welfare cuts they promised. A lot of one earner families and stay at home mums really depend on tax credits but they’ve been heavily hit in the last few years.
As Home Secretary one of my top priorities would be tackling violence against women and girls. More cases are being reported. But fewer are being prosecuted. The clock has been turned back, its appalling. Two women a week are still killed by a partner or an ex. If we saw that level of violence at football matches there would be a national outcry – with new laws, Government taskforces, new national standards. But that's exactly what we need on domestic violence and sexual offences too. More cases are being reported, but fewer are being prosecuted. Its just not good enough. I want a new Violence Against Women Bill to bring in stronger laws and new national standards for support services, the police, and prosecution.

Yvette I am a big fan of yours, and labour.

However I think Theresa May has done a great job of setting up the Child Abuse Inquiry, listening to survivors and pressing forward. I would not vote Tory if my life depended on it, but listening to her recent speech announcing the appointment of Lowell Goddard I do believe she wants the truth to come out.

If you become Home Secretary will this inquiry be at the top of your priority list? Will there be another attempt to change the law that witnesses will be protected if they give evidence even if there is a D notice against it. I am absolutely disgusted that this did not get through parliament. Some police officers and security services staff have crucial evidence that senior MPs were abusing children, and that there was a large scale cover up, but they have been prevented from coming forward in the interests of "national security". What rubbish.

Greville Janner was claiming his allowance in the Lords until the day before his arrest for child abuse. Suddenly he has dementia and can't be charged. What are you going to do about this? Surely there must be doctors reports (I say this a GP myself), evidence from his medical practice, care workers etc about his state of dementia.

I have already asked my question but if there's time left over for spare questions, I'd like to know how it would be better for the disabled (both adults and children) under Labour. e.g. ATOS have been very hard for adults. As for children, I think Cameron truly believes he does understand because of his own son, but I don't think he can realise how much money helps. Lack of support/respite just grinds people down into despair.

@NearlyEverything

Could you say one nice thing about each of the other major party leaders: Cameron, Clegg, Farage (ok maybe I'll let you off that one), Bennett and Sturgeon? Things you think they're good at, nice qualities they have, maybe they smell like fresh laundry That sort of thing

Can't say I know how they smell. But Nick Clegg still looks cheerful after everything. David Cameron is clearly even less of a football fan than I am. Natalie Bennett, Nicola Sturgeon and Leanne Wood showed its OK to hug on TV – and Nicola managed heels on the campaign trail whereas I usually trip over. Nigel Farage wore a cool hat once... Will that do, or do you want some policies too?

Can you answer my earlier question re forensics please?

Nick Clegg still looks cheerful

Hello Yvette
In every speech given by a Labour (and, to be fair, Conservative) politician over the last few months, all I am hearing is what's going to be done for 'hard working people' or 'working people', to the extent that I just want to turn off. What about people who are unable to work due to being carers or people who have disabilities preventing them from working? They seem to have been taken out of the equation.

Hi Yvette,

How did the Labour Party feel about the changes to Child benefit and is there any appetite to bring back the universality of this benefit?

I already asked two questions, but Islamist radicalisation of young people, what can be done?

@TheAbbessofBarking

Hello Yvette,

Lots of people who would like to vote Labour are a bit disgusted with your position on immigration. I think we all appreciate the need to avoid exploitation, but do you understand why the 'limits on immigration' language unsettles so many people who would otherwise support you? NB I'm asking whether you understand why it upsets people, not whether you agree with them.

Thanks.

I don't think anyone should feel like that about Labour's policies. People do have lots of strong views about immigration - and I've done public meetings all over the country and in different communities talking and listening to people because its important. We wont ever get involved in an arms race of rhetoric on immigration or the disgraceful "Go Home " Ads the Government ran. But we do need to have serious detailed debate.

In the meetings a few people tend to say we should close the border, a few tend to argue for no controls, but most people say they think immigration matters for Britain but they want it effectively controlled and managed and to be fair for everyone.

Britain has benefited from centuries of people coming and contributing, including setting up businesses or work in public services. Immigration is important but it needs to be controlled and managed so the system is fair. That's why our plans are for more border staff and stronger checks to tackle illegal immigration and trafficking, changing benefit rules so people contribute before they claim (as they already do from outside the EU) and tackling the way dodgy firms and agencies are exploiting migration to undercut local wages and jobs. That's not fair on anyone. And also reforms so we can welcome the university students who bring billions into Britain and do more to help the most vulnerable refugees from Syria.

Hi, according to someone I spoke to at the NSPCC, there’s nothing about online safety or tackling online abuse in Labour’s manifesto? What are the party's plans to help ensure the safety of our children online?

@Tournesol

Hi Yvette,

I would love to see more women in Labour's cabinet and generally think more of the team needs to get out there and share Labour's message as relying on one personality (the leader's) is not representative of all Labour can offer.

Would you agree that more women should be involved in politics? And would you consider standing for leader in future (especially in the light of how well Nicola Sturgeon is doing)?

Yes. Definitely, definitely. It makes a huge difference. In the 1980s, when Harriet Harman faced an almost-entirely male House of Commons and talked about childcare, she was scoffed at for raising a sideline issue. Thanks to her work, if someone stood up in the House of Commons today and suggested that childcare wasn't a vital part of our economic infrastructure – for men and women, THEY would be scoffed at. Parliament needs to reflect the country it represents. We need MPs who get women's lives – which means we need women MPs.

If David Cameron had more women in his Government, I think its more likely that someone would have spotted how unbalanced their policies are and how much harder women have been hit by all the tax, pay, tax credit and pension changes than men. I remember in the late 1990s when the Labour Government was bringing in tax credits in the first place, Treasury officials proposed paying the tax credit to the main earner (more often men). Labour women MPs spotted it, lobbied on it, and got it changed so it was paid to the main carer instead.

But I think women need to be involved in politics at all levels. In many communities, it's women that hold lots of things together – from family support to local community groups - so why should they be absent from the formal decision-making? I want to see women on the local council and the school's board of governors, as well as in Parliament too.

We’ve already had acting women leaders of the Labour Party – both Harriet Harman and Margaret Beckett, we’ve got nearly half the Shadow Cabinet as women, and I’m sure we’ll have a woman leader in future. But right now we need to get that Shadow Cabinet team into Government as the best way to support women now.

Hi Yvette. We're going to get a hung parliament or minority government. We know it, you know it.

How are you going to ensure you keep a Tory government out if you will absolutely not work with the SNP?

Thanks for your excellent answer to my question on the weight given in politics to issues especially important to women.
As a follow up question I noticed that you didn't pick up on the resourcing of maternity care aspect. Would Labour look into the resourcing of maternity care including post-natally if elected? I feel good support at this stage of a woman's life sets both her and her family up so much better for the future.
As so often under-funding is such a false economy

I don't have a question. I do feel I ought to apologise for that blogpost though... Sorry!