Labour leadership hustings - Webchat with Yvette Cooper TODAY Friday 24 July at 2.30pm

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

Ahead of the Labour leadership election, we’ll be hosting webchats with all four candidates - Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall.

Due to the candidates’ busy schedules (it’s like herding cats), we haven’t been able to get everyone in one room at the same time, so we’ll kick off tomorrow with Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford and Shadow Home Secretary, who will join us for a live webchat on Friday 24 July, 2.30pm - 3.15pm.

In the last Labour government Yvette served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Housing Minister. She is a big fan of Dr Who and the Sound of Music. She has three children, and (as you probably know) she’s married to Ed Balls, Labour’s former Shadow Chancellor.

Before the general election, Yvette 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 issues ranging from violence against women and compulsory sex ed, to immigration, policing and national security.

Please join us for the webchat at 2.30pm tomorrow if you can, or post a question for Yvette here in advance if you can’t.

Labour leadership voting is open until Thursday 10 September and the ballot results will be released on Saturday 12 September.

Thanks

MNHQ

Hi Yvette, Welcome to Mumsnet!
Will hopefully be on my way to the Lake District tomorrow for a few days away with friends and family in a lovely hostel between Coniston and Windermere so won't be able to join the webchat live .... so anyway, a question .....
I joined the Labour party after feeling very disappointed that we didn't get a change of government after the last election even though I was supporting and even standing in the locals for The Green Party. It was an interesting experience and has left me more pragmatic about my politics especially given our present FPTP system. Nevetheless as you might guess I'd like to see the Labour Party offering a more radical and particularly anti-austerity agenda.
From everything I've read from and about the leadership candidates you get my vote (having a say was one reason I joined)

I think my question for today will be where do you stand on the austerity/ anti-austerity spectrum?
Do you think some austerity measures are needed for the well-being of the economy or do you think all the cuts to public services are ideologically driven and un-necessary? Or perhaps somewhere in between?
Personally - like many people I guess - I do find economics fairly confusing (even though I did an economics course in first year at Uni)
I'd be interested in your take on things

Hi Yvette
I left the Labour Party in 2001 - what motive can YOU give me to join again (aside from to vote for Jeremy Corbyn)?
Thank you

Well someone's got to ask and it might as well be me.

Can you please tell us what your favourite biscuit is ?

I am a party member - can you tell me why you voted in favour of welfare cuts that will have a huge impact on families like mine?

I am a WORKING lone parent who receives CTC and some WTC - next year I will be £1800 worse off. I work in the public sector so my pay will rise by 1% to compensate.

How is this fair on ordinary families? How can MY party support this and other cuts to the most vulnerable in our society ?

Why not target tax evasion and tax fraud with the same vigour?

I am considering leaving the party I have been a member of for 30 years because I am fed up with the treatment of the poor in this country and the parties failure to stand up for the people who are suffering under this government.

Why should I continue to support you?

How are you going to re-energise the party and potential voters and undo a lot of the damage caused under the Blair years.

Would you agree a move from the middle right is required?

Hello Yvette, I hope you'll be answering some serious questions.

With the benefit of hindsight, do you agree that the pink bus was incredibly patronising to female voters? And why are issues like childcare considered 'women's issues'? Surely they are 'parental issues' and women who don't have children don't need to think about childcare.

Why did you and your husband 'flip' the designation of your home three times?

If elected leader of the Labour party, and then subsequently PM if (God willing) Labour win the next election, what will you do to combat the threat of ISIS? Because this woman is very interested in our national defence and in, you know, not being murdered by a bunch of medieval savages.

Thank you.

Hi Yvette, I am a labour member and you are currently my second choice behind Jeremy.

MNHQ have agreed to consider a campaign into the financial abuse of children by non residential parents. The courts and CSA/CM are letting children down also by their leniency on parents and their employers enablers partners and family members/employers.

The rights of the child seem to be forgotten, they are left in hardship. The public seen to view these children and the one parent left caring for them solely or mainly as somehow lesser beings.

I would like to see this financial abuse of children given the same status as domestic abuse of adults is given personally. Children are treated so badly in my opinion.

I also have issue with ill/disabled children being abused by the child protection system. Medical/educational errors are at times covered up with threats and misinformation being shared amongst professionals. Leaving families in fear so they say nothing. These vulnerable families are being abused by the very people who should be protecting and helping them.

Children are protected in one way to be abused in another and you are shouted down if you query child protection. This concerns me. You should be able to query these things as no system or human is perfect and there is room for improvement.

What would you do to improve these current policies and procedures for children?

I am appalled by religious discrimination in the state funded education sector. Why should a child be turned down for a place at their local state funded school where all their nursery friends are going due purely to the religion of their parents?

In this climate of fear of extremism, shouldn't we be encouraging religious integration in education rather than segregation?

To put it in a nutshell, what is the point of the Equalities act 2010 if state funded education is exempt from it?

I'd be really interested if Yvette could answer Iceburgs question.

It's a much better question than my biscuit one

Hi Yvette,

I am another member planning on voting for JC (because he is anti-austerity) and not sure if to put you or AB as 2nd pref. (As an aside I am fed up of people like CU and TH being patronising to members!)

But my question is how can we make work more flexible for parents? Is this a priority for you? Many mums /dads want good part time work so they can also spend time with children and watch school events etc. I have been a SAHM for a long time and now going back into training for new career. Things like school holidays (our before and after school club shuts in all holidays and insets) can be a minefield and have almost made me have second thoughts about returning. If more parents could work term time or flexibly (rather than try to extend school hours to match long working days) it would be amazing. Also, please don't slate SAHMs like some of the other Labour MPs did in the past!

Hi Yvette

I have several questions. I want to know why the NHS is not being defended by Labour, why this blatant deconstruction over the past 5 years has not been more adequately opposed.

I want to know why you abstained from voting on the benefits bill.

But most of all I want to know why you are not defending out environment from fracking, climate change, exploitation

As a proud life long labour voter and for many years trade union activist I am appalled at labour's apparent support for the Government cuts. What is this all about? How can 2 people living in a council house earning £15000.0 a year each be considered high earners? How can a household income of £30000 mean you pay more for your rent. Council housing should not only be for the poor, unemployed or immigrant population! How can the party that brought us tax credits pull the rug away? I work hard, I raise a disabled child alone and I live in a council house. Surely, I should not be ashamed to say I live on a council estate. I am proud to be a leftie. I understand some cuts need to be made but what about cutting benefits to people who claim for children abroad, limiting immigration, foreign aid etc? We are the 6th richest country in the world, a tiny little island, a proud nation?! Come on, who and what do Labour stand for? Find us a leader who believes in a better nation where every child has a equal chance?

Hi Yvette,

Thank you for agreeing to the Web chat. I am 17 years old.

My first question is how are you planning on making higher education more accessible to those from a more disadvantaged background?

My other question concerns children's rights, particularly children that at school are classified as having special educational needs. As someone who has suffered from ME/ CFS you would understand how much of a challenge it is to attend school if you are not well. Would you implement a process that would allow children with special educational needs to attend school whenever possible without being harassed about "unacceptable attendence"? Why are schools and local authorities allowed to provide unfair discrimination towards ill children and expect them to perform in the same way regarding attendence as a child who is not ill.

Awaiting your response with interest.

I have always been a vocal supporter of you (even though I no longer support the Labour party) and had high hopes you could become Labour leader but I am bitterly disappointed in your decision to 'abstain' on such an important vote. Actually, I would be disappointed at your decision to 'abstain' on any vote. Voting is a responsibility and a huge privilege.

So, my question is, why should anyone make the effort to vote for you in any capacity if they cannot guarantee that you will actually vote on their behalf on the issues that matter?

I would have more respect for someone who voted for the cuts as a matter of principle than someone who abstained as a matter of party political currency.

Hi Yvette, I would like to know what you are going to propose to improve mental health services in this country, particularly in relation to young people. I have recently been a witness to one woman's struggle to get counselling for her self-harming teenage daughter, family counselling, support of any kind and she has been met with constant box-ticking and a complete failure to provide the services needed. Another related issue is the struggle parents of children with learning disabilities face to get their children diagnosed, and once diagnosed, find the appropriate schooling for their children's needs. This is an absolute scandal which no party has recognised or pledged to address.

Hello Yvette,

My husband and I have both worked since we were teenagers, but have nothing to show for it. We are a typical example of 'generation rent'.
Everybody seems to make vague promises to build more affordable housing, but even if you built 1 million new homes they would just be bought by 'buy to let' Landlords and investors. They have completely hijacked the bottom rung of the ladder.
My question is, do you have any real ideas on how we can reclaim this rung and get working families like mine out of the rent trap and into permanent homes?

Hello Yvette,

Can you tell me why Labour have patently failed in their job as the Opposition and what you want to do to challenge shiny Dave's hatred of the poor and vulnerable please? Because at this moment, the only people in Labour who seem to give a damn about those groups are Jeremy Corbyn and Dennis Skinner. Which is a bit crap of Labour really.

As someone who didn't vote Labour in the last election, I'd like to know how you're going to attract the votes of those like me who feel we pay a lot of tax which subsidises a culture of entitlement and ingratitude among a large proportion of the population.

I'd also like to know whether, if elected, the Labour party will create real employment rather than waste money on things like teaching assistants who have been proven time and again in studies to add no educational value but just create jobs for a Labour constituency. If Labour is so concerned about all of the teachers in state schools being fully qualified why are is there a semi-literate teaching assistant working in my daughter's class. Rather than pandering to the British "working" class, isn't it time that Labour told them to get educated, civilised and start pulling their weight.

I am a voter who generally wavers between Tory and UKIP. However, over the past few days, events in the Labour leadership contest have caused me to think deeply about how I can contribute to the long-term prosperity and success of Britain.

In particular, the fantastic four have even got me wondering whether I should become a Registered Supporter of the Labour party, and avail myself of the opportunity to vote in the leadership contest.

Would you encourage me to take part? Would your answer depend on who I would vote for?

Retrorobot its not a Tory Mp who is doing the webchat..........oh wait.

Yvette Why dont you want to serve in a Labour Party with Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

I apologise for my comment of 00.00 Feelings are running very high on here at the moment.

Again i apologise. The reason feelings are running high on here at the moment is that a lot of the policies seem to be incredibly misogynistic towards women and mothers and there dont seem to be many MPs challenging this.

Howtoberebuild eloquently explains how problematic this is.

As leader of the Opposition, what would you do to address the problem of housing in the UK? So many families are living in inadequate conditions, and/or with insecure tenancies and no hope of ever owning a property.

We are currently renting a property for the first time in years and I am shocked by the way the letting market operates now. The best we can afford is a tiny two-bed flat with mould on the walls. Somehow we are considered so rich that we are both higher rate tax payers but even we can't afford adequate family housing.

I have no intention of joining the Labour Party but signed up as a supporter to vote in the leadership election, as I've voted labour a number of times and may consider voting them again, although I currently prefer another party.

I've been told by some Labour Party members that it's wrong and unethical for me to vote as I'm not a true supporter. Do you think I'm doing something wrong or are you happy for people like me to vote? (FAOD I feel I'm voting honestly and not with any sabotaging intent or anything dodgy!)