Politics has been this way for years and years. It's not a New Labour thing at all - every party does it - and Cas certainly isn't the only town with representation from 'outside'.

What's important here is that not one but two very senior politicians are interested in the town and the Rugby club. That's influence which in the right hands could be very wisely used, so (wherever she or Ed actually originate) perhaps a bit less of the slating and a bit more of that famous Yorkshire welcome would be in order?

not harsh at all, anyone and i mean anyone who seeks to be a career polititions should be refused point blank, the position should be held by someone who does have the constituants at heart. not someone playing games and networking (new name for brown nosing) for their next promotion, the whole government system at the moment is a closed shop. i had the privelidge of meeting lord Lofthouse prior to him being side moved to the house of lords for the new dynamic face of new labour, and Yvette is a poor replacement. a stooge put in place for the easy ride to westminster just like her hubby.

so we think we will get our stadium because THE COOPERS LOVE CRLFC

Too true Disco, and I actually believe she does care about the area as she gets involved in everything she can and doesn't just show her face now and again.

By the way, it's a good job she didn't change her name to her husband's when she got married as we' d have two local politicians that are a right pair of Balls (I thank you!)

I believe Yvette was fast tracked into becoming candidate for Cas & Pont and flat capper MP Geoffrey Lofthouse pensioned off.
A rising star and I for one am pleased she's our local MP, puts Cas on the Map and I believe she fights for the local community and being quite high profile is more effectively able to do so.

you are Ed Balls and i claim my £5

You're the typical doom and gloomer, Mr Negative of the forum and i claim all sorts on my expenses.

Personally she along with every other MP should of been investigated for fraud and jailed ...... instead we get an apology......she clearly tried to claim monies for twice the amount she actually spent...in my eyes that is stealing.... if I did it I would be arrested....and you can bet your bottom dollar an apology would not of helped me one bit......

Still why should she worry we only pay over £1000 a month interest relief on her £665K home in London.....

She is nothing more than a freeloader ...... Cas deserve better


From the Telegraph had their expenses docked, having each submitted two monthly claims for mortgage interest for nearly twice the cost of their actual payments.

The couple denied flipping after switching their second home designation three times, saying that they had not sought to maximise their expenses and that, unlike some colleagues, they had paid capital gains tax on selling their home.

Miss Cooper, who was first elected in 1997, eight years before her husband, initially claimed on a modest house in her constituency of Castleford, West Yorkshire, where the mortgage interest payments were £530 a month.

After Mr Balls was elected to the neighbouring seat of Normanton, she switched her designation to London, and they each submitted half of the £1,466 mortgage interest payments.

]Two years later, in May 2007, the pair moved to a larger £655,000 property in north London which they designated their second home. Their mortgage interest payments increased to £1,031 each. In total, the couple claimed £24,400 between them on their second-home allowance last year, slightly more than the £23,000 that could have been paid to an individual MP but less than the £46,000 maximum for two members.]

id rather be classed as a realist Marshy unlike yourself who is more a sheep, and to be fair with apathy like yours for mediocraty its no wonder we have so many theives as MPs, but hey its not like you cannot see the wood for the trees when it comes to CRLFC....

if this is not your opinion then what did someone do put a gun to your head to make you type it.

my god you truely are a beelding heart liberal. you laugh if you want but she and others like her will be stealing from the public coffers forever with weak willed bleaters like you willing to accept it, anyone else would have been up before the beak. oh i forgot im making it up my mistake, was going to mention she was a big supporter of the illegal war in Iraq you know the one we was told to rid the country of WMD's of course non were found because it was sold on a lie. but id be accused of making that up too.

Ha ha tigerman1+1, you are so perceptive!

I have to say personally that I wouldn't like the life of a politician, in the public spotlight all the time and hardly any private life and of course being to blame for all the ills of the country.

If you do feel you could do a better job Tigerman 1+1, then you really should put yourself forward, I'm sure whatever political party you feel akin to, would welcome you as a potential candidate.

I personally think they Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls are good MP's and that they've worked well within the rules operating at the time (although maybe rules should be looked at again), but when you consider that people in business can earn hundreds of time what an MP earns, then maybe something needs to be done on the earnings front, as we do need the best people possible running our country and we are in danger of scaring off any talented MP's in the future.

There's no doubt there are corrupt MP's around, as has been exposed by the press recently, but I don't for one minute believe Yvette Cooper or Ed Balls are amongst them. I have every confidence in their abilities and that they will do all in their powers to ensure we get our new stadium.

Fiddled expenses - CHECK!
Lied about Iraq - CHECK!

I won't deny either of those, or a whole raft of other charges you might want to lay at the feet of our political classes. My question would simply be: "And..?"

They're ALL are at it. They ALL lie to us. They've been lining their pockets and setting up post-career 'consultancies' since Westminster first opened its doors to them. 'Honourable' Members of the House have been bent as nine-bob notes for centuries and the most shocking thing about the expenses scandal is that the general public are actually naive enough to be shocked by it. So unless you're making a rallying call for a brand new communist revolution ..(I'd like to drive a really big tank please).. I just can't see what your beef is. It's like having a go at a dung beetle for rolling sh*t around. It's just what they do.

Bottom line is that, as politicians go, YC is by no means the worst. She at least expresses an interest in the constituency she represents.

Is it? Blimey...

Anyway where's my tank then?