College of Policing welcomes new Home Secretary
The College of Policing has written to Yvette Cooper to congratulate her on her appointment as Home Secretary under the new Labour government.
Ms Cooper’s appointment was confirmed by new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as he announced his Cabinet following a landslide victory for his party in Thursday’s general election.
In their letter, College of Policing chief executive officer Chief Constable Sir Andy Marsh and chair Lord Herbert commented: “Following HM The King’s invitation to Sir Keir Starmer to form a government and the appointment of Rt. Hon Yvette Cooper MP as Home Secretary, the chair and I are sending our congratulations to Ms Coper and her team.
“Our letter will restate the college’s commitment to staying responsive to the Government and to the Home Secretary, to whom our board is accountable, as we all support policing to keep the public safe.
“The chair and I have met the new Home Secretary who has spent many years scrutinising both policing and the Home Office with precision and persistence.
“We have already identified numerous ways in which the college can play an important role in delivering the Government’s policing priorities such as on neighbourhoods, VAWG (violence against women and girls), productivity and standards.
“These are important issues on which we are already making significant progress, but there is more to come.
“We look forward to meeting our new ministers and discussing how the college’s focus on improving leadership, standards and performance will support policing to better serve and protect the public.”
Ms Cooper is one of the highest-ranking women in the Labour Party.
Before taking on the role of Shadow Home Secretary after the 2010 election defeat for Labour, she served as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.
She was elected MP for the Yorkshire seat of Pontefract and Castleford in 1997 and went to serve as work and pensions secretary and later the first female chief secretary to the Treasury in the Labour government.
Among other firsts in her political career, the former journalist became the first minister to take maternity leave, and she was one half of the first married couple in the Cabinet – alongside her husband former education secretary and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Ed Balls.
Having served as Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary and former chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Ms Cooper is well versed in holding the government department to account.
Donna Jones, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and PCC for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and Emily Spurrell, APCC director and PCC for Merseyside, said: “On behalf of PCCs, deputy mayors and chairs of authorities we congratulate the new government.
“As the voice of the public in policing, PCCs hope to play a key role in supporting delivery of the new government’s commitments on community policing and criminal justice – to reduce crime, make our communities safer and improve the court system.”