Exclusive

Yvette Cooper reveals she doesn't always feel safe walking home at night

10 October 2023, 11:00

Yvette Cooper says she doesn't always feel safe walking alone at night
Yvette Cooper says she doesn't always feel safe walking alone at night. Picture: Global
Natasha Clark

By Natasha Clark

Yvette Cooper has told LBC she can feel unsafe walking home alone at night and gets her keys out for protection.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

The Shadow Home Secretary insisted "so little has changed" and "we can't stand for" people feeling unable to walk Britain's streets.

It came as Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Cooper launched their crime crackdown today ahead of their major conference addresses at the party gathering in Liverpool.

Yvette Cooper admits she feels unsafe walking Britain's streets

Read More: Make a citizen's arrest: The public should tackle shoplifters as police 'can't be everywhere,' minister says

Read More: Susan Hall 'doesn't feel safe walking home at night and walks with keys between her fingers' as she calls for better policing

Ms Cooper told LBC: "Like most women, most of the time I feel safe but I always have that sense of, if your walking home, from the bus stop, on your own, if its dark, you get your keys out. There's that thing we do. We have been doing it for generations...

"So little has changed."

She stressed that it was not just in big cities like London where people felt unsafe to walk the streets, but many smaller towns too.

Ms Cooper said: "The violence that people probably worry most about their kids and knife crime, about serious violence against women and girls, abuse and stalking. Keir Starmer is setting out a plan to halve the level of serious over the next ten years.

"Knife crime is about keeping our kids safe, the prevention, youth mentors, but also go after the organised criminal gangs that are luring our kids, and crack down on knife sales as well.

"There's been no grip from this government. We have got conservative Home Secretaries who aren't really interested in security on our streets.

"if you don't have security, if you don't feel safe, you can't thrive."

She also told LBC about plans for Labour to crack down on shoplifting - after we revealed that shops were losing £3.5million a day to it.

Police will be forced, under Labour, to investigate every incident of shoplifting, no matter how minor.

Ms Cooper said: "We have got this epidemic of shoplifting.

"Often it's organised gangs, repeat thefts, and they are getting away with it.

"This is not on. We need to tackle this epidemic.

"Labour will get rid of this £200 rule - that theft is not even investigated or looked into.

"It's very often the same people every day, we have shops ending up having to padlock fabric softener.

"They have to put security tags on butter and cheese. You have people coming in with a laundry basket and selling it on."

Labour would also look at tougher sentences for those who assault shop workers.

And Ms Cooper hit out at Tory Police Minister Chris Philp for backing the idea of a citizens' arrest for those who were shoplifting in their stores.

Ms Cooper said: "Tory ministers say, do a citizens arrest, but when they face abuse and attacks, how are they expected to do that?

"I think he is totally out of touch with what is happening in shops. Shop workers do their best, but they need to look after the safety of staff, they are being threatened with knives and physically assaulted.

"They could be there on their own. It's a disgrace to say, 'you sort it instead'. They have let communities down."

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

'But where are the hams?': Police launch manhunt after thieves steal €200,000 of prized Christmas meat

Police hunt Spanish hamburglars after thieves steal €200,000 of prized Christmas meat

The new advert was published this week.

Rebranded Jaguar sparks further backlash after teasing new car model akin to ‘Tesla Cybertruck’

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year

Arrest warrants issued for Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister and Hamas chief over 'war crimes'

Matt Hancock giving evidence at the Covid 19 inquiry

Matt Hancock tells Covid inquiry government did 'everything we possibly could' during pandemic

Matt Hancock was booed as he arrived to testify at the Covid-19 inquiry

Matt Hancock booed as he arrives to give evidence at Covid inquiry

Four days of weather alerts are in place for the arrival of Storm Bert

Storm Bert set to bring snow, blizzards and downpours as four days of weather warnings issued

Kyiv says Russia has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in an attack on Ukraine

Russia's revenge: Moscow 'launches intercontinental ballistic missile’ in attack on Ukraine

Hannah Ingram-Moore and Captain Tom

Who is Hannah Ingram-Moore? Captain Tom's 'leading businesswomen daughter'

The "Prescott Punch" is one of the most iconic moments in modern British political history

Infamous moment John Prescott punches protester who threw egg at him

Exclusive
Gordon Brown pays tribute to "working class hero" John Prescott.

Gordon Brown pays tribute to 'colossus' John Prescott after his death aged 86 following battle with Alzheimer's

(L) British lawyer Simone White, 28, is seriously ill in hospital. (R) Bianca Jones, 19, has become the fourth person to die after consuming alleged 'methanol-laced' drinks in Vang Vieng, Laos

London lawyer fights for her life and Australian backpacker dies after drinking 'methanol-laced' shots from bar in Laos

Russia is threatening to use new missiles in Ukraine after US and UK rockets were used in their territory

Putin 'to retaliate with new Frontier missiles in Ukraine' after US and UK give green light to fire rockets in Russia

Smaller drones, costing a fraction of Watchkeeper’s £5.2 million unit price, are being used to great effect in Ukraine for reconnaissance and precision strikes.

The British Army’s £1.35bn Watchkeeper drone programme: From ambition and innovation to delays, failure, and abandonment

GERMANY-TRANSPORT-TRAFFIC

Hundreds of drivers left stuck in vehicles in freezing conditions on M2 after serious crash between pedestrian and lorry

TV host Ellen Degeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi are reportedly planning to move permanently to rural England

Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi 'to flee US and move to England' after Trump's election win

Exclusive
‘The storm of war is gathering’: Defence cuts leave UK critically unprepared for a 'bumpy decade', warns ex-minister

‘The storm of war is gathering’: Defence cuts leave UK 'woefully unprepared' for a 'bumpy decade', warns ex-minister