Yvette Cooper unveils plans for ‘tough love’ youth programme as part of Labour bid to make Britain’s streets safer – as shadow home secretary reveals she gets her keys out for protection if she’s walking home alone at night
Yvette Cooper today unveiled plans for a ‘tough love’ youth programme as part of Labour’s promise to make Britain’s streets safer.
The shadow home secretary used her speech at Labour’s conference in Liverpool to repeat Tony Blair’s mantra of being ‘tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime’.
Ms Cooper pledged action on domestic abuse, rapes, shoplifting and knife crime as she looks to take charge of the Home Office after the general election.
She also took a swipe at the Government’s handling of the Channel migrant crisis and blasted Home Secretary Suella Braverman for ‘scapegoating’ gay asylum seekers.
It came after Ms Cooper used a radio interview this morning to speak of the ‘tragedy’ of violence against women and girls.
She revealed she gets her keys out for protection when she’s walking home alone at night.
Yvette Cooper used her speech at Labour’s conference in Liverpool to repeat Tony Blair’s mantra of being ‘tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime’.
The shadow home secretary pledged action on domestic abuse, rapes, shoplifting and knife crime as she looks to take charge of the Home Office after the general election.
It came after Ms Cooper used a radio interview to reveal she gets her keys out for protection when she’s walking home alone at night
The shadow home secretary told LBC: ‘Like most women, most of the time I feel safe.
‘But actually I always have that sense of, if your walking home, if your walking home from the bus stop, if your walking home on your own, and it’s dark, of just getting your keys out.
‘There’s just that thing we do. The tragedy is, I feel like these are things we’ve been doing for generations. Has it changed?
‘We’ve all talked about tackling violence against women and girls for generations and yet so little has changed. We can’t stand for this.’
Later this morning, in her conference speech in Liverpool, Ms Cooper shared her family’s own experience of domestic violence as she spoke of how her great-great grandmother was attacked by her husband with a poker.
She told Labour members: ‘My great-great-grandmother was attacked by her husband. First when she was pregnant. The report says he struck and kicked her so she could not sit or lie in bed.
‘Then he attacked her with a poker. In front of her daughter. The case went to court, the magistrates bound him over to keep the peace.
‘But you know the most shocking thing about that story? That is more protection from the police and courts than many domestic abuse victims get today.’
Ms Cooper reiterated Labour’s pledge to use counter-terror style tactics to monitor the 1,000 most dangerous abusers and sex offenders in England and Wales.
She said: ‘Enough is enough, we will not stand for this anymore.
‘The next Labour government will put rape investigation units in every force, domestic abuse experts in every 999 call centre.
‘We will require police forces to use tactics normally reserved for organised crime or terrorist investigations to identify and go after the most dangerous repeat abusers and rapists and get them off our streets.
‘Know this: if you abuse and hurt women, under a Labour government the police will be after you.’
The shadow home secretary also claimed that young people had been ‘totally let down’ by the Tories as she announced efforts to crackdown on youth crime.
‘We need urgent interventions to stop young people getting drawn into crime or exploitation in the first place,’ she said.
‘For too long, teenagers have been pushed from pillar to post between local authorities, mental health services, the police and youth offending teams.
‘That’s why we are setting up a cross-government “tough love” initiative, with new youth hubs and proper local plans to identify those most at risk and help them access the support they need.
‘And for those who repeatedly cause trouble in their community or are found carrying knives, there also need to be stronger interventions and clear consequences to stop their behaviour escalating and to keep other young people safe.
‘A Labour government will give young people their future back.’
In a swipe at the Conservatives’ handling of the Channel migrant crisis, Ms Cooper claimed the asylum system was in ‘total chaos’.
She jibed that the Tories had ‘sent more home secretaries to Rwanda than migrants’ following the stalling of Government plans to deport asylum seekers to Africa.
The shadow home secretary also took aim at a recent speech by Mrs Braverman in which the Home Secretary declared that fearing discrimination for being gay should not be enough to qualify for international refugee protection.
‘Labour will never scapegoat people because of who they are and who they love,’ Ms Cooper said.
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