Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper is a Labour MP who held key roles in the Gordon Brown government, and shadow roles in Theresa May’s. With a background in economic policy gained at Oxford, Harvard and LSE, Cooper has worked as chief economic correspondent for The Independent before gaining her Labour seat for Pontefract and Castleford at the 1997 general election. Cooper held numerous junior ministerial positions in Health and Housing and Planning, before becoming the first woman to serve as chief secretary to the Treasury in 2008. Cooper is married to Labour politician Ed Balls, and they become the first married couple to sit in the cabinet together. During this time, Cooper worked on child poverty, leading the Welfare Reform Act 2009 (criticised by many campaigners for its use of benefits sanctions in forcing unemployed people to seek work). In 2015, she ran to succeed Ed Miliband as Labour leader, receiving the backing of Gordon Brown and coming third behind Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham. After this, she retreated to the back benches and became chair of the Refugee Taskforce and the Home Affairs Select Committee, as well as consistently fighting against a no-deal Brexit.