Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 19 November 2012.
Yvette Cooper
Shadow Home Secretary, Shadow Minister (Equalities Office) (Women and Equalities)
2:30,
19 November 2012
That was not an answer to the question. The Home Secretary has to take some responsibility for the shambles that she has created. In April she got the decision and the date wrong over Abu Qatada by accident; in November she got the date wrong on the elections deliberately. By not holding them in November, she could have saved £25 million alone, but she chose not to. People did not want these elections last week. They said it was a waste of money, they said they did not know anything about it, they objected to the policy and they did not want to vote in the dark. She did not listen to those warnings and she is not listening to the public now or the message that they sent last week. Why does she not listen to them and apologise for the shambles that this Home Secretary and her decisions have created?