Yvette Cooper Under Fire As Unearthed Clip Reveals Her U-Turn On Refugee Family Reunion Scheme

Yvette Cooper, Britain's Home Secretary, arrives for a pre-Budget cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024.Yvette Cooper is facing backlash for suspending new applications for a scheme which allows refugees to bring their family members to the UK – especially as she previously campaigned in favour of uniting relatives.The home secretary announced plans this week to overhaul the asylum system following a summer of protests and backlash against asylum hotels.Despite promising to “smash the people-smuggling gangs” and reduce the number of small boats coming across the Channel, the number of asylum seekers has risen under the Labour government.So Cooper tried to seize control of the situation with this temporary suspension of the family applications, claiming people-smugglers often use this scheme to attract estranged relatives to make the dangerous journey to UK shores.However, some critics have found evidence of the home secretary campaigning for precisely the opposite back when she in opposition. In 2018, Cooper posted on X (formerly Twitter) accusing lawyers of the-then Conservative government of deliberating advising against giving child and teen refugees in France an explanation for why they were not reunited with relatives in the UK.She said the “level of inhumanity in this is appalling”.One social media critic described it as a tweet from a time “when Yvette Cooper still have a backbone”. Truly, truly shocking. Home Office lawyers appear to have deliberately advised against giving child & teen refugees in France the reasons why they were refused family reunion with relatives in UK to prevent them appealing against decision. Level of inhumanity in this is appalling https://t.co/wAiO3ZtZWk— Yvette Cooper (@YvetteCooperMP) July 31, 2018And in 2016, Cooper called for the government to act in regards to the unaccompanied children and teenagers in Calais who were coming over to the UK.“We simply cannot have them wait for weeks to fill in forms and wait in queues,” she said.2025: Yvette Cooper suspends the rights of child refugees to come to the UK, effectively rejecting Article 8 of the ECHR2016: Yvette Cooper making a passionate plea for child refugees to come to the UK Cooper spent over a decade speaking up for child refugees, and just like… pic.twitter.com/hgnNc7dBT0— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) September 2, 2025Cooper addressed this change on Radio 4′s Today programme, saying she has supported family visas over the years because “I think we do want families to be able to reunite if they’re separated by war or persecution”.Presenter Nick Robinson reminded her that she previously warned that asylum seekers would be driven into the arms of people smugglers if there weren’t these routes.She replied: “We’ve seen evidence of change in the way in which these family rules were being used. That’s why we’ve announced this temporary suspension while we bring reforms into place.“Previously, if you go back five years, people were tending to apply to bring their family to the UK after they they had been here as refugees for a year or two years, so usually working or able to have their own homes or support their own families.”She said these applications now seemed to come around a month after someone’s refuge status is approved, often before they’ve left asylum accommodation.“That means they’re not likely to be in jobs or able to support the families, and there’s often no other conditions on that family reunion and what we’re seeing is a big increase in homelessness applications, which is putting pressure on local authorities,” the minister said.Related...What Temporary Changes Has Yvette Cooper Just Announced For The Asylum System?Fact-Check: Here's A Look At The Reality Asylum Seekers Actually Face In The UKLiz Truss And Elon Musk Stoke Anti-Asylum Sentiment With Misleading Clip Of Labour Minister

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