Member of Parliament
She was selected to contest the safe Labour seat of Pontefract and Castleford at the 1997 general election on the retirement of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Geoff Lofthouse, in April 1997. She held the seat with a majority of 25,725 and made her maiden speech on 2 July 1997, speaking about her constituency's struggle with unemployment. She served for two years on the Education and Employment Select Committee.
Read more about this topic: Yvette Cooper
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