Public interest demands strong select committees as Diana Johnson bids to succeed Yvette Cooper in home affairs role – The Yorkshire Post says

THIS NEWSPAPER has long maintained that the weekly hysteria at Prime Minister’s Questions does a disservice to Parliament because it misrepresents the studious and well-informed work of MPs, particularly those serving on backbench select committees, in holding the Executive to account.
By YP Comment
Published 2nd Dec 2021, 16:35 BST
Updated 2nd Dec 2021, 16:42 BST
Hull North MP Dame Diana Johnson is standing to chair Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee.Hull North MP Dame Diana Johnson is standing to chair Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee.
Hull North MP Dame Diana Johnson is standing to chair Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee.

The vast majority of their hearings take place without fanfare – only high-profile sessions attract the attention of the media and public at large – but the measured manner of inquisitions is such that Ministers, and others, fear these sessions, and the quality of scrutiny, far more than any questions on the floor of the Commons.

And these committees do need to operate on a cross-party basis in order for their reports and recommendations to be effective – a point that has to be reiterated as the Home Affairs Select Committee opens nominations for a new chair to succeed Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper as she rejoins the Shadow cabinet.

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For, while Ms Cooper’s personal views on Brexit, migration and other contentious policies will not be universally shared, this did not prevent her from becoming the scourge of successive home secretaries because of her leadership and her committee’s forensic attention to detail over policy minutiae.

Yvette Cooper, the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP, is the new Shadow Home Secretary after stepping down as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.Yvette Cooper, the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP, is the new Shadow Home Secretary after stepping down as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Yvette Cooper, the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP, is the new Shadow Home Secretary after stepping down as chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

They’re also qualities that her potential successors, who include Hull North MP Dame Diana Johnson, will require in abundance when it comes to holding Priti Patel, the current Home Secretary, and her department to account on a range of issues from its response to Channel migrants to police numbers. The public interest demands nothing less.

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Related topics:Yvette CooperDiana JohnsonYorkshire PostParliamentMPs

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