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  • Yvette Cooper – 2012 Speech to Labour Party Conference

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    Below is the text of the speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, to Labour Party conference on 30th September 2012.

    Conference, we have heard in today’s debate from delegates on a range of issues, from diversity in our Party and the challenges faced by women, to the impact of the Government’s policies on disabled people.

    But Conference, we, in this Party will not just be debating equality today.

    Yesterday, 800 women gathered for Labour’s Annual Women’s Conference.

    Tomorrow when we debate the economy, we’ll talk about child care, jobs for young people and support for disabled workers.

    On Tuesday our Party Leader Ed Miliband, who has done such a great job for our Party this year, will talk about making the economy work for everyone not just the privileged few.

    And on Wednesday and Thursday we’ll debate our public services.

    The importance of Sure Start in giving all kids a better start in life.

    And the future of our NHS – one of the most important institutional embodiments of fairness and equality in British society. One of Labour’s proudest achievements, now under threat from the Tories. An institution that we will strain every sinew to defend.

    And Conference, as we talk about equality, not just today, but throughout the week, we’ll also talk about why the police need to challenge racism and pursue hate crimes which have been rising.

    And we will remember that in six weeks the country will vote for the Government’s new Police and Crime Commissioners. Our chance to send a message to the Tories about policing.

    But also an important campaign in Bedfordshire, where we are backing Olly Martin’s campaign against a candidate from the EDL.

    Because Conference we must never, never let policing be taken over by racists or extremists. Policing must be fair for all.

    Conference, all week we will talk about Labour’s belief in fairness, in justice, in equal life chances, equal respect for individuals, wherever they come from, whatever their background.

    And our anger that this Government time and again is turning the clock back, widening the gap. Reinforcing, rather than challenging discrimination.

    Look at the way unemployment among young black men has reached over 50 per cent.

    Look at the way David Cameron is taking more money from disabled people than he is from the banks.

    Look at the way 80 per cent of the rise in long term unemployment is among women.

    And the way the squeeze on child care, social care, and universal credit are all penalising women who work.

    And with women bearing the brunt of the tax and unemployment changes, we, Conference, are more proud than ever, because it is more important than ever, that we now have the first woman General Secretary of the TUC – who made a fabulous speech at Labour’s Women’s Conference yesterday – Frances O’Grady.

    Sometimes it is the double discrimination that is hardest.

    For example, for older women, who now face a toxic combination of ageism and sexism.

    They’ve seen a 30 per cent increase in unemployment since the election, compared to 5 per cent on average for everyone else.

    And even in the Cabinet.

    David Cameron told Caroline Spelman she was too old for the job, aged 54. Then replaced her with Owen Paterson, aged 56.

    That’s why Labour has set up an Older Women’s Commission led by our Harriet Harman.

    Because the generation who fought for equal pay, for childcare, for maternity leave, will not be silenced now.

    We know too that many disabled workers are getting a bad deal. The Work Programme is missing its target for disabled people by 60 per cent.

    And Conference, it is shocking the way this Government has closed so many Remploy factories with no jobs for people to go to. They have turned their back – we will not turn our back. We will keep campaigning for those Remploy workers because they have a right to work.

    Perhaps the most disturbing thing of all is the rising child poverty that we are seeing across the UK. Families in Britain forced to depend on food banks. That is the shocking state of Britain under David Cameron and Nick Clegg. No child should have to grow up in our country in the twenty-first century feeling hungry, cold or left behind.

    Conference, this isn’t an accident.

    It is the direct result of deliberate policies.

    Economic policies that push Britain back into double-dip recession.

    Fiscal policies that help the richest in the country and make everyone else pay more.

    And an approach to equality which sees positive action as somehow a burden, as opposed to the opportunities and doors that we know positive action can open.

    So the action we took to tackle discrimination is now being dismantled.

    Abandoning Labour plans for pay audits, even though it will take another 65 years for the gender pay gap to close.

    Ending requirements on employers to protect their staff from racist or homophobic abuse.

    Repealing laws that could help older women fight the toxic combination of ageism and sexism.

    Introducing a new thousand-pound price tag to purse an equal pay claim.

    Stopping the Equality and Human Rights Commission from assessing whether policies affect the poor.

    Bit by bit they are eroding the protection people have – salami-slicing here and there. And Conference, the Labour Party must not let them get away with it.

    We can build a fairer society. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again. Progressive campaigning against prejudice and discrimination has changed our country.

    When we brought in Civil Partnerships for lesbian and gay couples there was huge opposition.

    Now the majority of the public agree with finishing what we started – and introducing same sex marriage. Ministers mustn’t chuck this into the long grass because they are afraid of the Tory right.

    When people who love each other want to get married, we shouldn’t discriminate we should celebrate.

    It is time to change the law now.

    But the Government should go further. We respect freedom of religion and that means different faiths will make their own decisions.

    But freedom of religion means we should support the Quakers, the Unitarians, Liberal and Reform Judaism and other faiths who want to celebrate same sex marriage.

    And Conference this is the year of London 2012.

    Britain put on the best Paralympics ever. Ever.

    An amazing spectacular of sporting excellence – role models from Ellie Simmonds to Hannah Cockcroft, Johnny Peacock to David Weir – we celebrate their achievements and stand in awe of their excellence.

    Because, the truth is Team GB made politics look small.

    We have to be inspired by them. Our Paralympians changed Britain this summer – as a result of the Olympics and Paralympics that the whole country built together.

    We mustn’t let it slip back now.

    Because we know how much more all of us can achieve, whatever our circumstances, when we support each other, rather than leaving people to sink or to swim, alone.

    And Conference, I think this – the spirit of the Olympics and the Paralympics – underpins Labour’s vision for equality.

    It is a vision of a society that supports those who care for children or for elderly relatives, who are getting older, or who have a disability, to do all they can do. Be all they can be.

    Equality laws that create a can-do society.

    An economy that works for the working people.

    A government that works for all the people.

    Conference, this is Labour’s pledge on equality.

    This is the kind of Britain we know we can be.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2012 Speech to the Police Federation Conference

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    Below is the text of the speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, to the Police Federation Conference on 15th May 2012.

    Can I thank Paul McKeever for the invitation to speak at the Police Federation Conference.

    It is 12 months since I joined you in Bournemouth.

    12 months on Thursday to be precise. Today being Tuesday.

    I always have to check what day it is, shadowing Theresa May.

    Or Theresa April as she’s known in the Home Office now.

    When last I came, and when last you gathered, I said then I was worried about the perfect storm building around policing.

    At that time we feared 12,000 officers would be lost

    We feared the frontline would be hit.

    We feared morale was falling.

    We feared that Ministers were not listening.

    Turned out we weren’t afraid enough.

    The Home Secretary told your conference last year she was on “a rescue mission, to bring the economy back from the brink and to make sure the police come through not just intact but better equipped for the future.”

    Since then the economy has gone back into double dip recession. And 5,000 police officers have gone from the frontline.

    Some rescue.

    But as we reflect on the last 12 months, we should also pause to reflect and pay tribute to the serving officers who have lost their lives in the last twelve months.

    Ian Swadling.

    Scott Eastwood-Smith.

    Perviz Ahmed.

    Anthony Wright.

    Stephen George Cully.

    Ramin Tolouie.

    Mark Goodlad.

    Neil Jeffrys.

    Andrew James Stokes.

    Karen Paterson.

    David John Rathband.

    Preston Gurr.

    The whole country was deeply moved and saddened by the tragic death of PC David Rathband.

    He became Raol Moat’s target simply because of the job he did and the public service he gave. Shot and left in darkness by a murderer because he was a police officer.

    An officer who inspired so many by his battle to return to service and to stand up for others injured in the line of duty.

    We must make sure the Blue Lamp foundation stands as his legacy and his tribute now.

    But I also want to pay tribute to PC Mark Goodlad whose funeral I attended in Wakefield at the end of last year and who lived just outside my constituency in West Yorkshire.

    PC Goodlad was a traffic officer. Stood at the side of a motorway helping a woman who had broken down by the side of the road. A lorry driving on the hard shoulder knocked him down and took his life.

    PC Goodlad wasn’t fighting crime when he fell. He was helping someone in need. Like so many officers day in day out. Doing his job. Taking risks to keep the public safe. And he gave his life.

    Police officers are crime fighters yes, but they are so much more besides. And I want to pay tribute and say thank you to all the police officers across the country working hard, taking risks every day of the week to keep us safe.

    But so many police officers and staff are now are worried about the future of policing.

    Over 30,000 police officers gathered on the streets of London last Thursday.

    Constables, sergeants, inspectors, superintendents and chief constables.

    Police officers on their rest day, taking annual leave, slipping in before the night shift. Over 2,000 from the West Midlands, Over 1,000 from Greater Manchester, 650 from Thames Valley. Officers from Devon and Cornwall getting on coaches at 2am and travelling through the night to make their voices heard.

    Officers from across the country who know that their forces are facing a cliff edge, worried that the service to the public is falling, and afraid that crime and public safety are being put at risk.

    Because the Government is cutting too far and too fast. Hitting jobs and the economy. But also putting public safety at risk.

    Labour MPs have voted four times in Parliament against the 20% cuts.

    David Hanson, former Policing Minister many of you know and here today as Labour’s Shadow Policing Minister has called repeatedly in Parliament for the Government to change course.

    Last week we supported your march against 20% cuts.

    You are right, communities are being put at risk.

    Cutting 16,000 officers is criminal.

    Thank you for gathering last week to stand up for the communities you serve.

    Because we are seeing the real consequences now.

    In the Midlands, officers told me about a 999 call that came in about a hit and run involving a child. Thanks to cuts in response units, the nearest officer was 45 minutes away. He got there as fast as he could. But he arrived to a slow hand clap from the gathered crowd.

    And in the South West, officers told me about a 999 call from a woman who was afraid because her partner was making threats. She was told to go round to a neighbour’s because there wasn’t a car to send. She called a second time as she became more worried and afraid. Only when she called the third time to report an assault was the response car dispatched.

    Eighteen months ago, the Home Secretary promised that the frontline would not be hit.

    Yet now we know 16,000 officers are being cut.

    16,000. That’s the number of officers it took on the streets of London to take back control of the streets after rioters burned Tottenham and Croydon, and looters ransacked Clapham and Hackney.

    The Prime Minister promised:

    “We won’t do anything that will reduce the amount of visible policing on our streets”.

    But over 5,000 police officers have gone already from 999 response units, traffic cops, and neighbourhood police.

    So when 30,000 officers took an hour and a half to march ten abreast past the Home Office to demonstrate the strength of anger and concern, I think the Home Secretary should have answered you.

    We called the Home Secretary to Parliament to respond. It is an utter disgrace that on police cuts she had absolutely nothing to say.

    Everyone recognises the police have to make their share of savings.

    Labour has said repeatedly since before the election that the police budget would have to be cut.

    We supported 12% cuts. Based on expert work in the Home Office and by the Inspectorate. But not 20% cuts.

    We supported £1bn annual savings over the course of a Parliament. And yes that would require pay restraint, reforms and back office cuts to achieve it. But it would also mean you could protect the frontline rather than watching 16,000 officers go.

    Ministers would have you believe that means we support their plans. Quite the reverse. Instead of the £1bn cuts we accepted, they are cutting £2bn. Going too far too fast. And that’s why so many officers are being lost.

    I know and you know that we won’t always agree.

    Labour in government had disagreements with the police.

    And there will be issues we disagree over in future too.

    On pay and pensions, we believe further reforms are needed.

    But they should be done through fair negotiations.

    Some officers I know now support the police having the right to strike.

    I strongly don’t. The police are the emergency service of last resort.

    But there’s a flip side to that.

    Government should respect and value the office of constable on which we depend.

    When I spoke last year I supported your call for a royal commission

    Not because policing in Britain is broken. But because to cut crime and keep the public safe, we should always seek reforms and improvements to make policing better.

    I said then we would press the Government for a royal commission or major independent review of the long term future of policing in the 21st century.

    And I said that if the Government refused to set up any kind of overarching review, then we would do so instead.

    We have done so.

    Lord Stevens, former Commissioner of the Met, has now begun work. Drawing on expert advice and contributions from serving officers, members of the public, academics and top criminologists, former Chief Officers, business people, local government workers, even our security and intelligence agencies, from Britain and across the world.

    Looking at:

    Challenges of the future – more national, international and high tech crimes. Greater expectations for fast and responsive local policing.

    The talented, flexible and professional workforce needed.

    Accountability, checks and balances.

    The balance between national and local policing priorities.

    But this Government has no positive vision for the future of policing.

    Instead we have just chaos and contradictions:

    Scrapping the NPIA with no proper plan for national training and development when it goes.

    Abolishing the Forensic Science Service before sufficient quality services are available in its place.

    Fragmenting forces with elected police and crime commissioners just when forces need to co-operate more.

    Major cuts in service, yet £100m for elections in November that no one wants.

    Promising less bureaucracy yet forcing officers to do more paperwork because so many police staff have been cut.

    Undermining neighbourhood policing – one of the most important and successful reforms Labour introduced – as some areas consider removing officers and leaving PCSOs alone to do the job.

    And demoralising the officers and staff who we need to be highly motivated by the cack handed approach to Winsor reforms.

    The detail of the Winsor proposals is of course a matter for you and your representatives to pursue in the negotiations.

    But let me raise some general points.

    I think there should be reforms to pay and conditions to support modernisation of the police. Many police officers I’ve spoken to recognise that too.

    I think there should be greater emphasis on skills, and the development of talent, faster track promotions, greater flexibility. We supported the Neyroud report. Fitness tests make sense too.

    But the Home Secretary was completely wrong to give whole sale backing to the Winsor report when it raises so many concerns.

    For example:

    Regional pay is likely to cost more not less.

    Calling for higher qualified recruits whilst cutting starting salaries makes no sense at all.

    Too little consideration has been given to the impact on individual officers at a time when family budgets are already being squeezed.

    Compulsory severance looks frankly like a plan for another huge round of cuts to policing or contracting out police work.

    Time and again the Government is failing to value the office of constable or to recognise the complex mix of skills, experience and judgement the police workforce need.

     

    We see it too in their plans to force through widespread privatisation of core public policing with no safeguards in place.

     

    Public private partnerships can be very effective. The police can and should work closely with business on new technology and developing new ways of working. There is important work for the private sector to do.

     

    But government needs to draw a line – in the interests of public confidence and public safety too.

     

    Core public policing – such as neighbourhood patrols, serious criminal investigations, or assessing high risk offenders – should not be contracted out, no matter how cheap the contract price.

     

    British policing is based on consent and it depends on the confidence of the communities being policed.

     

    The public need to be confident decisions are being taken in the interests of public safety, the community or justice, not distorted by contract or profit.

     

    We don’t want private companies on the beat on our public streets, we want crown servants, public servants, police officers doing the job to keep us safe.

     

    Chaotic, fragmented, contradictory changes.

    Cuts and confusion putting at risk the very best of British policing.

    With no vision in its place.

    That’s not reform. It is destructive chaos.

    This Government is giving reform a bad name.

    Reform should make the police service better.

    Reform should improve the quality service to the public.

    Reform should make it easier not harder to cut crime or keep the streets safe.

    And reform should create a highly motivated, talented, committed and professional police force.

    We want to see reforms from the Stevens review that support good policing rather than undermining it.

    And that also means giving police officers the confidence that they will get the backing of the public and the force when they go the extra mile to keep people safe.

    There is one reform the Government could sign up to straight away.

    Doing more, not less, to help those officers injured in the line of duty who want to get back to work in the policing jobs they love.

    Like PC Guy Miller from Kent Police who was run over by a car driven by two men he tried to arrest. At the time it was said that PC Miller would never recover from his injuries.

    Yet less than three years later, PC Miller was back working for Kent Police.

    He has since received recognition for his work in the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, solving crimes, and helping to protect the public.

    Or PC Gareth Rees, a traffic officer for Hertfordshire police, hit by a car at the scene of an incident. Now back on full duties. But only after many operations and two years recovery.

    As he told a journalist, “We are in harms way, but if it all goes wrong you hope you will be put back together again”.

    Under the Government’s plans officers who want to return, but who need time to recover and rebuild will be penalised and probably forced out.

    I believe we owe a duty of care to officers like PC Miller, PC Rees, or PC Rathband hurt working to keep us safe.

    When a police officer, seriously injured in the line of duty, is determined to return to the policing job they love, they should not be penalised. I think they deserve the confidence of knowing their force will back them all the way.

    And we need more action too from the Government to make it easier for the police to do their jobs – cutting crime and keeping people safe.

    Because in the end that is what policing is all about.

    In thirteen years of Labour government, crime fell by 40%.

    That was the result of hard work by police and communities. Reforms that built partnerships with councils and housing associations to prevent crime. More police. New PCSOs. Neighbourhood policing to get back into the community. New powers on anti-social behaviour, domestic violence, knife crime or counter terror.

    Most people think crime is still too high and they want it to come down further.

    And that in the end should be the joint aim of communities, the Government and the police.

    Instead the Government is making it harder for the police to do the job:

    Fewer police.

    Fewer powers.

    Making it harder to get CCTV, taking rape suspects off the DNA database, ending ASBOs, watering down counter terror powers.

    More bureaucracy not less.

    And no over-arching strategy to cut crime.

    Yet in the end, that means it is communities that pay the price.

    Victims of crime who get less support.

    Families who feel less safe.

    Personal acquisitive crime already going up by 13%.

    Other crimes have stopped falling when they should still be coming down.

    I believe we can work together again – the police and communities, forces, councils, voluntary sector, businesses and government all pulling in the same direction to do more not less to keep people safe.

    But it needs the Government, the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary to change course before it is too late.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2011 Speech to Police Federation Conference

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    Below is the text of the speech made by Yvette Cooper to the Police Federation conference on 17th May 2011.

    It’s a great pleasure to be here. Can I thank Paul McKeever for the invitation to come to your conference.

    And I want to take this opportunity as well to thank you and many of your members I have met since I became Shadow Home Secretary who have talked to me about the work you do and the challenges you face across the country.

    From London to Leicester, Leamington to Leeds, West Midlands to West Yorkshire, the neighbourhood officers, the towncentre beat officers, traffic cops, public order police, detectives, counter terrorism officers, dog handlers and mounted police.

    All doing their best to deliver good service in the face of new pressures.

    For me, our Shadow Policing Minister Vernon Coaker and all our Shadow Home Affairs team, the perspectives of police officers across the country are extremely important.

    And I want to thank Paul, Ian, the national and regional team and the reps across the country for the work you are all doing to stand up for your members. The Police Federation has always been straight with us.

    In Government and out. You’ve always told us when you agreed with us, and also when you didn’t. Sometimes loudly.

    Of course in thirteen years we didn’t always get it right. And we have to learn lessons from that.

    On targets that lasted too long.

    On force reconfiguration that people didn’t want.

    And on arbitration too.

    We didn’t get the pay process right in 2007, and you made clear the anger officers across the country felt at the time. Not least at this conference if I remember right.

    And we did learn lessons from that. That’s why the following year, the Home Secretary and the Police Federation leadership worked hard together to get a three year deal that everyone could support.

    But over thirteen years, the work you did, the extra 17,000 officers, 16,000 PCSOs and other staff we supported, the work together on prevention, on fighting crime, on counter terrorism, tackling anti-social behaviour, street crime, domestic violence.

    It delivered results.

    43% drop in crime.

    Violent crime down.

    Theft down.

    Burglary down.

    The risk of being a victim of crime at its lowest since the British Crime Survey and rising confidence in the police.

    Because of the work you did.

    That’s not the sign of a failing police service. It’s the sign of police officers committed to their communities and to the job.

    And I know too this is about more than just fighting crime.

    The traffic cops attending a bad crash. The search teams looking for an elderly man with dementia who wanders off. The officers working in schools. The officer I spoke to in West Yorkshire an hour after he’d faced a man threatening suicide from a third floor balcony – and had to take the potentially life or death decision when negotiations failed to send officers in to rush him and pull him back.

    The police who have to pick up the pieces – the service of last resort when other things go wrong.

    And I want to pay tribute to the police officers who have lost their lives in service, and those who have fallen since the Conference last met.

    Detective Sergeant Terry Easterby.

    Constable Sean Peter McColgan.

    Constable Daniel Alastair Gibb.

    Constable Scott Eastwood-Smith killed on Saturday on his way to work.

    And from our colleagues in Northern Ireland, I woul d like to pay tribute to Constable Ronan Kerr, who was the victim of a terrible and cowardly murder, by terrorists who want to take the people of Northern Ireland and the peace process backwards.

    People across the country have great respect for the risks you take and the job you do.

    And that respect is important. It is an essential part of policing by consent – a founding principle of British policing centuries ago.

    But that is why it is also so dangerous the way this Government is attacking the police now.

    Paul is right to raise serious concerns about the campaign of denigration.

    The persistent briefings and distorted information straight from Downing Street and the Home Office about the so called “police gravy train”.

    The Prime Minister’s claim in the House of Commons that the police are “completely inefficient.”

    You are right to be angry about attacks that are untrue, unfair and that undermine the work you do.

    But there is a greater risk.

    That kind of campaign of denigration undermines respect for the enforcement of law. It makes it harder on every estate, in every community, for the police to command the respect you need to do your jobs and to enforce the law.

    You know I won’t always agree with you. You won’t always agree with me. We won’t always agree on the shape of reform. But I will always engage with you, and I don’t believe in undermining the job you do.

    I do believe in continued police reform.

    Not because I think policing is broken, but because it can be better, and we always should go further to do more for the sake of the communities we all serve.

    Police officers I’ve spoken to across the country want to be part of a sensible, responsible debate about improving policing for the future.

    But you are not punch bags. You are not material for cheap headlines. The Government should stop acting as if you are.

    And the truth is the Government is not introducing sensible reforms. Quite the opposite.

    I believe David Cameron and Theresa May have made the wrong decisions and the wrong judgements about the future of policing – and I fear it is communities across the country who will pay the price.

    For a start they are cutting too far too fast and the police are among the hardest hit.

    Overall the scale and pace of deficit reduction is being driven by politics not by what’s good for the economy. It’s hitting growth, hitting jobs and will end up costing us more.

    I also fear that policing is among the worst hit. The Home Secretary failed to fight her corner in the Spending Review. And now we are seeing the results.

    20% cuts with the steepest cuts in the first few years.

    12,500 police officers will be lost, and thousands more support staff too.

    Of course the police can and must make savings. But let’s be clear about the difference in our plans.

    Labour’s plans were set out by Alan Johnson; a 12 per cent cut over the course of the Parliament, which the HMIC have said could be achieved without hitting frontline services and which Alan believed would have given chief constables the cash to maintain the numbers of police officers and PCSOs.

    So yes, we would have cut £1 billion over the course of the Parliament and that would have been tough.

    But the Government is cutting £2 billion, with the steepest cuts in the first few years.

    The Home Secretary is still in denial.

    Three times she was asked on Sunday whether 12,000 police officers would go. Three times she refused to answer and to take responsibility for the cuts.

    Time and agai n Ministers tell us that the frontline won’t be hit. They clearly haven’t talked to the frontline officers in Warwickshire forced now to cover back office jobs, the neighbourhood officers being cut in London and Birmingham, the domestic violence units and traffic units across the country that are being squeezed.

    Time and again they tell us that it is for Chief Constables to decide.

    Yet the truth is Chief Constables are being put in an impossible position by the scale and pace of the cuts.

    They tell us cutting bureaucracy will solve it. I welcome more work to cut bureaucracy. But they shouldn’t pretend it’s going to compensate for 12,000 officers lost. It is playing the police and the public for fools.

    Government ministers are completely out of touch with the reality in police forces across the country.

    As for the A19s. You couldn’t make it up.

    A Government that says on the one hand everyone has to work for longer, and on the o ther hand, those who want to keep working have to go.

    Officers forced to retire, then asked to come back and do the same job as specials instead.

    That’s David Cameron’s Big Society.

    But the greatest insult of all is that now we know it won’t even save any money.

    The lost tax, national insurance and pension contributions means it will end up costing the taxpayer more.

    But it’s not just the cuts. The Home Secretary is undermining leadership and morale with her cack-handed approach to reform.

    Bringing in American style elected police chiefs which concentrate power in the hands of one politician with no checks and balances is putting centuries of impartial British policing at risk.

    The uncertainty over commissioners and the chaos surrounding the national policing framework is making it harder for forces to make long term plans.

    And the handling of pay and pension reforms – briefing and pre-empting the Winsor and Hutton reviews – has left police morale at an all time low.

    But perhaps most important of all, the Government is making it harder for the police, the courts, and local communities to fight crime.

    Youth services, family intervention projects and other prevention programmes cut back.

    ASBOs abolished.

    DNA use curtailed.

    CCTV in a bubble wrap of bureaucracy.

    Dangerous loopholes in child protection.

    Chaos over the National Crime Agency, CEOP and the SFO

    Sentencing reduced at the same time probation is cut back.

    And now their latest plan to let criminals do half the time just for pleading guilty, no matter how serious the offence. That won’t fight crime and it’s not justice either.

    They used to be the party of law and order once. Not now.

    These are the ingredients for a perfect storm. Fewer police, fewer powers, weaker prevention, weaker sentencing, no checks and balances.

    And no vision for the future.

    No strategy to keep crime falling.

    No bigger picture.

    Through the Police Federation, you have called for a Royal Commission on the future of policing to turn things round.

    You know the next election may not be for 4 years

    I can’t promise you a Royal Commission after that – to pronounce in five or six years time. It’s too long to wait.

    But I do think there is a strong case for an independent review – be it Royal Commission or other form of overarching review to start now.

    On clearing up the mess of the current reforms.

    On the challenges for the future – from counter terrorism to cyber crime.

    On ensuring the police are flexible enough to respond, promoting not stifling the talents of officers and staff.

    On putting communities at the heart of the fight against crime and delivery of justice.

    On increasing accountability, transparency, checks and balances and remedies when things go wrong.

    And on how, in the modern world we maintain what is precious about British policing – it’s impartiality, international reputation , sense of public service and policing by consent.

    The Government should set up that independent review now and they should talk to you about how it should be done. And if they won’t we will.

    Policing is too important to get it wrong.

    For thirteen years, I believe Labour’s approach – “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” – delivered results. Now the Tory-led Government is putting that progress at risk.

    Officers on the frontline say they fear crime will go up as a result.

    And it is victims and communities across the country whose lives are wrecked and who pay a terrible price when things go wrong or when justice is denied.

    We have to do everything we can to stop that happening.

    We are determined to do everything we can to force the Government to change course.

    They’ve done it before.

    They’ve paused on the NHS.

    They’ve u-turned on forests.

    If they can do it for trees, they can do it for police and crime.

    That’s why we will keep up the pressure in Westminster and across the country.

    Along with hundreds of thousands of people across the country already raising their voices in alarm.

    The fight against crime, the work for safer communities and the pursuit of justice are too important to put at risk.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2010 Speech to Labour Party Conference

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    Below is the text of the speech made by Yvette Cooper, the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to the Labour Party conference on 27th September 2010.

    Conference,

    Last week I talked to a mother in my constituency.

    Her daughter Ellis is 16.

    She got her GCSEs this summer. Her mum said she worked really hard.

    She was due to start an apprenticeship this September at a local nursery school.

    In August they told her the coalition Government has cut the funding.

    Her mum was told Ellis can still do her training.

    But only if she forks out £1,200. That’s £1,200 she and her family haven’t got.

    Conference this is the Britain David Cameron and Nick Clegg want to build.

    Hopes betrayed.

    Ambitions abandoned.

    Young people left to sink or swim.

    Unless you can afford to pay yourself.

    This is what the Big Society really means.

    And this is why, for Ellis and thousands like her, we have to fight to get the Labour Party back into Government as soon as we possibly can.

    And that is why we need to come together now, behind our new leader, Ed Miliband, who will lead us in:

    – exposing the madness of the Tories’ attack on jobs,

    – challenging the deep unfairness of their plans,

    – and fighting the biggest assault on families in any of our lifetimes.

    Conference, throughout our history the Labour Party has fought for jobs.

    Remember as recession started, economists said unemployment would reach 3 million.

    That is what happened in the Tory recessions of the 80s and 90s.

    But this party vowed we would not let that happen again.

    Government, businesses, unions , councils, voluntary groups all pulled together.

    Backing jobs building new schools and homes.

    Guaranteed work or training for young people.

    Working together to keep Britain working.

    Look at the results.

    The dole queue started coming down last autumn.

    Far earlier than in any other recession.

    Far below the 3 million predicted.

    One and a half million fewer people on the dole than in the 80s and 90s recession.

    One and a half million more people in work supporting their families. That is Labour’s achievement and this party should be proud of it.

    And Conference I saw the pressures Labour’s Chancellor faced, the decisions Alistair and Gordon took, that:

    – stopped banks crashing,

    – stopped millions of people losing their savings,

    – saved jobs.

    Conference we should pay tribute now to Gordon and Alistair for the work they did for this country.

    Over the summer, the world economy ha s slipped back into more dangerous waters.

    In Ireland the sharp austerity drive has triggered a double dip recession.

    Here at home private sector job growth is still too weak.

    Vacancies have dropped in the last three months.

    And the number of people on the dole has gone up for the first time since January.

    So what is David Cameron’s answer?

    To cut jobs just when we need them most.

    George Osborne’s own Budget said 100,000 more people on the dole each and every year, just as a result of the decisions they made.

    Over the next few years, Treasury’s own papers show:

    – Half a million jobs lost in the public sector,

    – Over half a million jobs lost in the private sector,

    – Half a million fewer jobs and opportunities for the unemployed.

    So what do ministers have to say to the 90,000 young people now being denied a job on the Future Jobs Fund.

    David Cameron said the Future Jobs Fund was “a g ood scheme” and “good schemes we will keep”.

    But he didn’t keep it. He abolished it.

    Nick Clegg was asked whether these job cuts were fair. He said “of course it isn’t…. It’s a decision taken by the local council.”

    But Nick, it wasn’t a council decision, it was a decision announced by a Liberal Democrat Government Minister.

    Doesn’t this tell you everything you need to know about this coalition.

    David Cameron tells people whatever they want to hear.

    Nick Clegg tells them it’s someone else’s fault.

    And we in the Labour Party must make sure every conceit and every deceit is exposed for what it is – a betrayal of young people across Britain.

    And what reason do they give for cutting so many jobs?

    They say they need to do this to get the deficit down.

    Conference, of course the deficit does need to come back down. And that will mean some tough and unpopular decisions.

    But cutting jobs to get the deficit down?

    More people on the dole to bring the deficit down?

    What planet are they on?

    We’ve heard the Tories say this before.

    In the 90s they told us that “unemployment is a price worth paying to bring inflation down”.

    20 years later they are telling us again unemployment is a price worth paying to bring the deficit down.

    Both times they were badly wrong.

    Unemployment is never a price worth paying.

    Rising unemployment pushes the deficit up not down.

    Every 100,000 people on the dole costs us £700 million in lower tax and higher benefits.

    Unemployment isn’t the price of bringing the deficit down.

    Higher unemployment means we all will pay a higher price.

    Nick Clegg claims the public finances are like a household budget, and we have to cut back quick.

    But think about it. Because this is a family with a choice to make.

    It’s a family with a mortgage who cut the rep ayments when dad lost his job in the recession – to make sure they could get by til he found work, and to make sure the family didn’t lose their home.

    And now they have a choice.

    Make good those repayments steadily, bit by bit. Go for some extra overtime or promotion, tighten their belts a little. But spread the payments sensibly.

    Or follow the George Osborne plan. Pay it off all at once. Sell the furniture, the car that gets mum to work, sell the dog, even the house itself – whatever it takes to get the debt down.

    The truth is that every family knows cutting back too far too fast causes deep damage and ends up costing you far, far more.

    Unemployment won’t get the deficit down, more people in jobs will get the deficit down.

    Conference, our task is getting more people into work

    That means supporting jobs and yes it also means going further on welfare reform too.

    We brought in extra help and stronger rules. We cut the numb er of people stuck on out of work benefits. But we need to go further.

    We know from the doorstep, we talked to parents worried about whether their children could find work, neighbours worried that other people weren’t playing by the rules.

    We should have started sooner on reforms to help people off long term sickness benefits and into work.

    And we should go further to guarantee more jobs, but to require more people to take them up.

    Opportunities alongside obligations.

    But that’s not what this coalition is doing.

    Iain Duncan Smith says he wants more people in work.

    But George Osborne is cutting jobs for them to go to.

    Iain Duncan Smith says he wants people to be better off in work.

    But George Osborne cut working tax credit.

     

    Iain Duncan Smith says he wants more conditions on claimants.

    But the Government is ending the requirement for young people to take work.

     

    Iain Duncan Smith says a lot. But no one else in Government seems to be listening.

     

    He said himself, he was the quiet man.

     

    So quiet no one else can hear.

     

    They’re not setting out welfare reforms to help people into work. They’re just setting out old fashioned cuts that hit the poorest hardest.

    George Osborne is swaggering round like the playground bully – working out who won’t fight back, picking on the weakest – and that’s just Iain Duncan Smith.

    Hitting the poorest harder than the rich.

    Women harder than men.

    Hitting the sick and disabled.

    Pensioners and children are being hit hardest of all.

    The nasty party is back, and this time they’ve brought along their mates.

    From this April, over 50,000 of our poorest pensioners will lose an average £11 a wee k from their housing benefit.

    Thousands of pensioners who will struggle to pay the rent.

    Conference this party believes people who worked all their lives have a right to a secure home in their retirement.

    And we should be proud of action we took to lift 600,000 children out of poverty. But the government is trying to turn back the clock.

    Cutting maternity allowance, ending the child trust fund, the baby tax credit.

    Taking £1200 from working families with new born babies in that important first year of life.

    At least Margaret Thatcher had the grace to wait til the babes were weaned before she snatched their milk.

    That money is what lets a new mum stay home with her little one a bit longer before she goes back to work to pay the bills.

    It lets new dads cut back on the overtime so they can spend more time at home.

    For thousands of new parents across the country, that money means precious, precious time at the start of a family’s life.

    David Cameron said this would be the most family friendly Government ever.

    In fact they have launched the biggest assault on the family in the entire history of the welfare state. And this party must fight it all the way.

    This is a Government which just doesn’t understand women’s lives.

    They’ve halved the number of women in the government – and let’s be honest we needed more women before.

    George Osborne’s Budget hit women three times as hard as men.

    £8 billion raised, £6 billion of it from women.

    Even though women earn less and own less than men.

    Nick Clegg says things like working tax credits, child benefit, carers allowance make people dependent and should be cut back.

    For millions of women across Britain the opposite is true.

    The tax credits help mums pay for child care so they can go out to work.

    The carers allowance helps daughters look after their elderly parents.

    That support doesn’t make them dependent. It gives them greater independence, greater choice about how to cope with the different pressures of work and family life.

    Conference, all my life I have assumed that each generation of women would do better than the last.

    I know I’ve had more choices, more opportunities than my mum and my grandma, not least because of the battles they won.

    With each generation, I assumed, we would break more glass ceilings, change more of the world.

    But now for the first time I worry about my daughters, about all our daughters. For the first time I worry that our daughters will have fewer chances in life than we did.

    Conference, for women across Britain, backed by the Labour Party, the fight back starts here.

    Throughout our history the Labour Party has fought for equality.

    Fought for working families.

    Fought for dignity in old age.

    And throughout our history – from the Jarrow marches to the New Deal – we have fought for jobs.

    Fighting for jobs, backing our economy, standing up for fairness, united behind our new leader; this must again be Labour’s crusade.

  • Yvette Cooper – 2009 Speech to Labour Party Conference

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    Below is the text of the speech made by Yvette Cooper, the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to the 2009 Labour Party conference.

    Conference.

    12 months ago we gathered in Manchester with the world economy on the brink of disaster

    Think back for just a moment

    Banks bigger than nations teetering on the edge of collapse.

    Fearful families moving their savings from bank to bank.

    The madness of markets in crisis.

    The terrifying realisation that things people had taken for granted might all come crashing down

    And yet in the midst of that crisis we learnt something else:

    The strength of peoples, governments and nations standing together, arms stretched from country to country;

    First to calm the wildness of the storm

    And then to stop recession turning into slump;

    And we learnt too how much we owe to the strong leadership of our Chancellor and our Prime Minister. And we should start our debate by thanking them now: Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown.

    Never forget how close we came to catastrophe last year.

    And never forget how easy it would have been for governments to stand back, to turn their backs, to retrench.

    That was what governments across the world did in the thirties. And for years working people paid the price.

    That was what the Tory government did here in the 80s. And for generations entire communities paid the price.

    And that is what David Cameron and George Osborne wanted us to do again.

    Conference we know unemployment is never a price worth paying. We will never leave people to stand alone.

    Our Labour government will never turn its back on those hit by recession or global crisis.

    We know unemployment hurts. Unemployment scars.

    That’s why we are putting an extra £5bn into jobs and training.

    And conference that support and our welfare reforms have made a difference. In just three months this summer more half a million people who were out of work found jobs.

    But it’s still hard. Now is the time to increase – not cut back – on the programmes that help people get jobs.

    Programmes like the Local Employment Partnerships between Job Centre plus and businesses that are getting people off benefit and into jobs in every one of our constituencies.

    Helping people like Anthony in Castleford, who got a job after 14 months on the dole and told me its transformed his life — he’s got his own place, started management training, and been on his first ever holiday abroad.

    I spoke to Rebecca Robertson, at Job Centre Plus in Castleford who helped Anthony get work about how she does it. She said; “I like to get under the employers skin – know what they really need. Then I can make sure I get people ready for the job.” She gets people training, boosts their confidence, and even goes to the interview with them if they need it – and she takes a spare tie and a spare pair of tights along just in case.

    Conference, its people like Rebecca, going the extra mile to help people not just get a job but build a future. That’s public service.

    But we need still to be much more ambitious. There are thousands more people like Anthony.

    So we will do more. I can announce today that we will expand those successful local partnerships to help far more people. Already they’ve helped over 250,000 people into jobs. Now we will treble our original plans to help a total of over 750,000 people into jobs by the end of next year.

    Because no one should be denied the dignity of work.

    Across the country, major employers have been signing up to the Backing Young Britain campaign.

    From Bradford to Brighton, Coatbridge to Cardiff, councils, housing associations, football clubs and countless community organisations are signing up to our £1bn fund to deliver over 100,000 youth jobs, as we guarantee no young person is stuck on the dole more than 12 months.

    Even Tory Councils are signing up. Praising the programme and claiming the credit in their local papers.

    But hang on. Where do they think the money is coming from for those jobs? I’ll tell you where. Its coming from £5bn extra this government has provided to boost the economy.

    £5bn that George Osborne believes should never be spent.

    £5bn the Tory party is determined to cut.

    Conference we need to challenge every Tory MP, every Tory councillor and candidate to tell young people why their party wants to destroy their jobs.

    Conference the Tory party want to turn their backs on young people again. And we must not let them get away with it.

    So what would David Cameron put in place of training places and support he would cut?

    Just one policy. As he told Tory party members in July: “50 of our candidates, MPs and councillors are setting up job clubs.” Instead of 100,000 youth jobs, 50 Tory job clubs.

    Imagine it. Job clubs run by Tory MPs.

    David Cameron might have some useful advice on interview techniques.

    William Hague would certainly be able to help on getting second jobs or making extra cash on the side.

    But what about the rest?

    John Redwood on how to look interviewers in the eye.

    Ken Clarke on how to dress for success.

    You know what Norman Tebbit’s advice would be: take a cycling proficiency course.

    Conference, may be there’s a reason why David Cameron doesn’t get the importance of training and employment support.

    For his first job he got a royal equerry to ring up on his behalf. For his second job he got his mother in law Lady Astor to put in a good word.

    Conference, that’s not how people like Anthony in Castleford get jobs.

    Back in the real world thousands of people rely on the help from training colleges and Job Centres the Tories want to cut.

    Conference, the Tories say we can’t afford to invest in the unemployed. I say  we can’t afford not to.

    Look at the facts. For every 100,000 people we get off unemployment we save £700m.

    There is no better way to cut the deficit once the economy is growing than to get people off benefit and back into work.

    That is why we will make sure no one is written off.

    Keeping up the employment support and the welfare reform that is getting people back off long term benefits and into jobs.

    Helping disabled people overcome discrimination to work.

    Helping parents get the child care they need.

    More support and also making sure everyone does their bit.

    Working with businesses, the voluntary sector in the Flexible New Deal.

    Not a passive welfare state, but active support for work.

    David Cameron doesn’t believe in active government to help the unemployed because he doesn’t believe in active government.

    Their campaigns for Broken Britain, for an age of Austerity, all designed to break people’s faith in a brighter future.

    He wants us to despair of purpose of politics or the role of government so they can roll back the bounds of government – a counsel of despair that would have run Britain into ground if we had followed it last year.

    We know things are tougher in recession. But we know if we stand together we can come through it stronger.

    And we know there will be tough choices on the public finances. But we will make those tough choices guided by our vision of a fairer Britain, for our parents, children, neighbours.

    That is why we will increase the top rate of tax and we won’t cut inheritance tax for millionaires.

    It is why we will keep helping families.

    Backing Sure Start and child benefit.

    Making sure mums and dads can balance work and family life.

    Helping carers.

    Putting into law our commitment to end child poverty for ever.

    That is why we will keep doing more to help pensioners.

    Tackling decades of unfairness so millions of women can get full basic state pensions that should be their right.

    Requiring employers to make pension contributions for the first time for millions of low paid workers.

    And conference, because fuel bills are still high, as well as paying the Winter Fuel Allowance at the higher rate again, I can announce we will also pay Cold Weather Payments at the higher rate again cold

    But conference you can’t do any of those things if you don’t believe in the role of government.

    You can’t do any of those things if you don’t believe in standing together to help build a fairer country.

    You can’t do any of those things if you have a Tory government

    In the thirties one of the first ever women Labour MPs, Ellen Wilkinson, marched with our fore fathers from Jarrow to fight for jobs.

    In the eighties I marched with my father and with many of you under the Union Banners to fight for Jobs.

    But Conference. We marched then in vain. Because we didn’t win the arguments. We didn’t win power. And there was nothing more we could do.

    That’s why we have to fight now. That is why there is so much at stake. That’s why the Labour Party today has more to fight for than ever.

    We owe it to the young people today, but also to the Jarrow marchers we couldn’t help, to the 80s unemployed we couldn’t support.

    We owe it to them to fight for every vote, to fight together to win the next election and to build a fairer Britain.