Yvette Cooper buyers will find average house prices are ten times their salary. That could lead to real social inequality and injustice. Every part of the country needs more affordable homes – in the North and the South, in urban and rural communities". In 2008, Cooper became the first woman to serve as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. As her husband, Ed Balls, was already a cabinet minister, her promotion meant that the two became the first married couple ever to sit in the cabinet together. In 2009, Cooper was appointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and took over
John Kirwan (politician) 1930 and appointed K.C.M.G. in 1947. He was a member of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society, contributing numerous articles to "Early Days" and various international periodicals such as "The Times" and "The Review of Reviews". He also wrote an autobiography in 1936. In 1912, he married Teresa Gertrude Quinlan, the daughter of politician Timothy Quinlan, and they had three sons (a twin male having died at birth), two grandchildren (a boy and a girl) and three great grandchildren (a girl and two boys). He died in the Perth suburb of Subiaco in 1949. John Kirwan (politician) Sir John Waters