Yvette Cooper claims Labour were too “squeamish” when it came to talking about immigration

Last night in an interview on BBC Newsnight, Yvette Cooper claimed Labour was “squeamish” when it came to talking about immigration.

Talking to Laura Kuenssberg, Cooper – one of four people in the running to be Labour’s new leader – argued that she believes immigration needed to be “controlled” and “managed”.

Cooper argued that Labour’s policies on immigration before the election weren’t the problem, but their “squeamish” attitude when it came to talking about the subject was:

“I think it’s not so much about exactly what the detail of the policies are, it’s about not being squeamish about talking about immigration.

“Because it’s important for Britain, but it has to be controlled and managed so that the system is fair… we should talk about the way we control and manage it but also the way you can benefit from high skilled migration from students coming from Britain.”

The leadership hopeful, who has been an MP since 1997, dismissed claims from certain senior Labour figures who have said the party should choose a person from the new generation of MPs to lead the party. Cooper said people making these comments were “trapped in the past…fighting battles from 2004 and 2005… wanting to settle old scores from the Labour Party’s history.”

On the 2008 financial crash and Labour’s spending prior to this, Cooper said: 

“I’m saying that ideally you would have had it [the economy] ons in surplus, so yes, we should have had it in surplus by that time.

“However, what was the consequence of that? The Tories want to say that either it caused the financial crisis which it clearly didn’t, or they want to say that it made it harder to deal with the financial crisis which it also didn’t.”

You can watch the full interview here: