Labour candidate for Pontefract, Castleford & Knottingley. For constituency casework pls contact yvette@yvettecooper.com
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Apr 22 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda scheme is costing over £500m to send just 300 people - less than 1% of asylum seekers, with no plan for the 99%.
Tory policy is just an extortionate election gimmick instead of a serious plan.
Labour’s plan will boost our border security instead /1
Neither the Home Secretary nor the former Home Secretary think Rwanda scheme will work.
The former Immigration Minister says this is just about “symbolic flights before an election.” Even the PM tried to cancel it when he was Chancellor. /2
Jan 2 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
PM & Home Secretary claiming they’ve cleared the asylum backlog this morning.
That’s just not true.
It’s one of five Sunak broken promises on asylum & small boats this year - yet another year of Tory asylum chaos, of gimmicks instead of grip.
Let’s look at the facts👇(1/7)
BROKEN PROMISE 1: Sunak claims to have cleared the asylum backlog. Not true.
Not even cleared “legacy backlog” - 4,500 cases not done, 17,000 “withdrawn” by the Home Office but they’ve no idea where those people are
And rest of backlog DOUBLED this yr
Total backlog 99k (2/7)
Dec 6, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Never before have I had to respond to a Govt statement, while the Minister in charge of the policy was busy resigning. Britain deserves better than this Tory mess.
My response to the total chaos in the Tory party & the complete collapse in Sunak leadership 👇👇 1/4
PM told his backbenchers tonight he really, really would have gone further but the Rwandan Government told him not to break international law 👀
Weak, weak, weak! Can’t even defend his policy, he just hides behind Rwandan Government instead! 2/4
Nov 11, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Thank you @metpoliceuk & all the officers who were out on the streets of London today, ensuring Armistice Day events were not disrupted, having to face disgraceful far right violence & assaults, and working still to pursue appalling antisemitism & hate crimes seen today /1
Across UK communities came together today to commemorate Armistice & pay respect to those who gave their lives to protect our freedoms
But in London we saw disgraceful scenes of far-right attempts to disrupt Armistice events & violence against police officers /2
Aug 5, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Apparently it’s the Conservatives’ ‘Small Boats Week’, so before we get more empty pledges, gimmick announcements that go nowhere, ramped up rhetoric and false claims of progress in tackling their chaos, let’s take a look at their record 👇🏼
1/ Their policies aren’t working & Tory boats chaos has got worse. 4yrs ago Ministers promised to end crossings in 6 months, but number is up twentyfold since then. In Jan, Rishi Sunak pledged to “stop the boats” - but crossings in June/July were even higher than last year
Mar 23, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Today @Keir_Starmer & I launched Labour’s mission on crime to restore confidence in policing & criminal justice & halve serious violence;
*to halve knife crime
*to halve violence against women & girls
*to restore confidence in police
*to reverse the collapse in crimes solved
That starts with;
- 13,000 more neighbourhood police & PCSOs
- overhaul police standards
- youth mentors
- new law to crackdown on gangs recruiting children
- specialist domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms
- specialist rape investigation units in all forces
And more....
Mar 7, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
And it’s Groundhog Day
This Bill re-runs Tories failed 2022 law which made things worse.
Under 2022 law, 18,000 people considered inadmissible but only 21 returned because no returns agreements.
That’s 0.1% returns.
New Bill also fails on return agreements. Same problem/3
Bill also makes it harder to get new return agreements w France & other European countries due to unilateral approach.
So thousands of people will be put in indefinite taxpayer funded accommodation, never having their case resolved.
So Bill will make hotel problems worse!/4
Nov 23, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Suella Braverman’s evidence to @CommonsHomeAffs today shows she has no grip on serious Home Office issues. From asylum backlog to passport delays to child refugees, she has no idea what’s going on or how to solve it.
6th Tory Home Secretary in 7yrs & country is being let down/1
Evidence session a catalogue of failure
After 12 years in power Conservative Home Secretary says Conservatives have “failed to control our borders.”
And still no action on criminal smuggler gangs putting lives at risk. Just ramping up rhetoric instead of hard work to solve it/2
Oct 31, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
No plan to deal with collapse in Home Office asylum decisions (to just 14,000 a year - half the level of 6 yrs ago) that has created backlog, delays & costs. 96% of small boat cases from 2021 haven’t been decided. Recent laws added bureaucracy & extra delays/4
Failure to prevent & no plan tackle huge, recent proliferation of criminal gangs in Channel which puts lives at risk. Still refusing to adopt Labour plan for hundreds of specialist officers in new NCA unit to tackle gangs, yet pursuing £140m++ unworkable, unethical Rwanda plan/5
Oct 31, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Home Secretary showed today neither she nor the PM remotely get the serious responsibilities of their office - including on national security & public safety.
Nor do they have any plan on Home Office challenges or how to solve the damage 12 years of Tories has done.
A thread/1
Home Secretary letter leaves serious security Qs unanswered.
Confirms it wasnt a one off. Sent Govt documents to personal email 6x in 43 days! Didn’t report breach “rapidly” & had to be repeatedly confronted. Importantly no answers on leak investigations while Attorney General/2
Sep 6, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Suella Braverman is the 5th Tory Home Secretary in 12yrs. Here’s the Tory record so far👇
- 7000 fewer police officers
- 6000 fewer neighbourhood police
- 1000 detective vacancies
- Double % of people saying they never see police on the streets
- Just 1 in 20 crimes charged/1
- More rapes recorded than ever before, but just 1.3% charged
- Still no register for serial domestic abusers
- Gun crime increased
- Stabbings up 60%
- 4.5m frauds last year alone
- quarter of the public experience anti-social behaviour
- more young people exploited by gangs /2
Oct 1, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Response from Home Office & Met to the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer is totally inadequate.
We need answers. How was this dangerous man a police officer for so long? What needs to change in policing?
Home Office must announce proper independent inquiry /12. Needs to look in full at this case. Why weren’t previous allegations investigated? Why didn’t colleagues raise concerns? Why wasn’t vetting stronger?
But also must look at wider systems/culture/attitudes/scale of problem on violence against women & girls within police service
Sep 30, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Sarah Everard was murdered by someone she should have been able to trust, who was charged with keeping people safe. This was a monstrous crime - devastating for her family & deeply damaging for trust over violence against women & girls ..../1
Incomprehensible that such a dangerous man could serve as a police officer for so long, or ever be allowed to carry firearms. Vetting & safeguarding systems all failed to stop him. Serious problems over systems & culture that police forces must not dismiss as one-off /2
Aug 18, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
“I fear seeing my kids tortured in front of my eyes or having my skin peeled off while I am alive... every time the door knocks, fear goes through my whole body” - Afghan woman who worked on UK aid programme, now in hiding from Taliban. She & others need urgent help to leave ...1
UK Govt isn’t helping her - even though she’s at risk due to her work with UK. Urgent changes to Govt approach needed.
First, Govt must broaden the relocation scheme (ARAP). It’s too narrow & leaves too many people under imminent threat from Taliban forces searching for them /2
Jul 30, 2021 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
1/ The Macpherson report on the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence had a big impact on policing & tackling racism when published. But 22yrs on @CommonsHomeAffs found progress has stalled &there are still deep-rooted racial disparities. Urgent action needed
2/ We found policing today is very different from 22yrs ago & there have been important improvements. However, we identified serious, persistent problems & unjustified racial disparities on recruitment, misconduct, use of key powers & community confidence standard.co.uk/news/crime/mps…
May 25, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Govt advice to people in Bolton/ Bedford/ Kirklees is utterly chaotic - no clarity & expecting people to restrict what they do all because Government failed to put India on the red list in time. Ministers should apologise to local communities they have let down.
2/ Complete confusion on whether Government thinks people should travel/ not travel, go to pub/ not go to pub/ carry on with weddings or not.
But Govt shd never have put our communities in this situation in the first place - should have acted way faster on the India variant
1/ Domestic abuse survivors are being denied justice by 6 month time limit on prosecuting common assault. Many obvious & serious reasons why survivors may take more time to report abuse. But time limit lets perpetrators off. Time to change #timeforjustice independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…2/ Women I’ve spoken to who showed incredible courage going to the police & ending abusive, violent relationships, still told that no action can be taken because it’s more than 6 months since assaults took place. Perpetrator gets away with it & can abuse again
May 14, 2021 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Government is now warning us about local lockdowns or delays lifting restrictions because of the India variant. But why did they let this happen?
Three times Government has made major errors on Covid border measures which worsened pandemic. Why don’t they learn?
A thread 👇🏼
2/ Spring 2020. Almost every other country in the world introduced proper border restrictions or quarantine. The UK did the opposite, lifting even the voluntary self-isolation guidance for some travellers on 13 March so we had nothing in place committees.parliament.uk/publications/2…
Feb 24, 2021 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
99% of people arriving in country are not going into hotel quarantine. Evidence from Home Office to @CommonsHomeAffs this am. 15,000 people arriving a day. 150 go to hotels - only 1%. Majority can still go straight onto public transport home without being tested on arrival
Govt has no estimate on the number of people who comply fully with self isolation at home (other estimates range from 29% to 67%). And no figures on whether police are actually taking any enforcement action if people aren’t home when they check (they weren’t at all up til Dec) /2
Feb 12, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1/ what is going on at border? Am hearing there’s a perfect storm w lots of Border Force staff self isolating & more people returning from high risk countries before hotels. What is Govt/Heathrow doing to prevent arrivals hall being a super-spreader queue? metro.co.uk/2021/02/12/que…2/ This cd get worse. ISU say Border Force haven’t been given operational guidance on hotel arrangements for Mon. It's now 4.30 Fri! Say they don’t know if officers need to check high risk arrivals, if they'll go straight to hotels from gate or mix with everyone in passport queue
Asked PM at #LiaisonCommittee what Govt was doing to stop new South Africa variant spreading in the UK. Asked why people have been able to travel from SA to UK for last 4wks without being tested & can go on public transport.
PM didn’t know. Said he’d look at it ..1/6
PM told me pre-travel tests were coming in (Good)
But they arent in place yet (4 wks after we were warned on SA).
Other countries introduced those tests months ago. So I asked why the tests hadn’t been introduced in November as Spain, Greece & others did. No explanation ...2
