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
Walter Cooper (Queensland politician) Walter Cooper (Queensland politician) Sir Walter Jackson Cooper, MBE (23 April 1888 – 22 July 1973) was an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Queensland for over 36 years. He served in the Senate from 1928 to 1932 and 1935 to 1968, representing the Country Party. He was also Minister for Repatriation in the Menzies Government from 1949 to 1960. Cooper was born in Cheetham, Manchester and educated at Bedford School and Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys, Leicester. He migrated to Western Australia in 1910 and later moved to Brisbane, Queensland. In 1914, he established a property at