Yvette Cooper should have one clear task: reform Britain’s police and restore public trust. But apparently, she can't. After days of headlines about West Yorkshire Police freezing applications from white British candidates, the Home Office offered no solution, only an excuse: “The Home Secretary has had no interaction with West Yorkshire Police on their recruitment policy – this is just not a question for her. Recruitment decisions are an operational and independent matter for individual forces, not the Home Secretary. There are no provisions for positive discrimination in law.”

Three words, “operational and independent,” now form the backbone of that defence. But if those words mean she cannot speak to forces, question hiring practices, or take action, then Cooper isn’t up to the job. Because if the Home Secretary won’t defend merit, fairness, and equal treatment under the law, what is she there for?

A young man, born and bred in Yorkshire. Capable and eager to serve, he’s told to wait to apply to his local force. Why? Because he is white. This isn’t a dystopia. This is Britain, in 2025.

It’s not an administrative hiccup. It’s a police force openly excluding applicants by race. That’s not diversity. That’s discrimination, and potentially unlawful.

West Yorkshire isn’t alone. From Cumbria to Gloucestershire, forces now run race-based mentorships and “buddy” schemes. The terms may be soft, like “positive action” or “representation,” but the outcome is blunt. It is racial sifting.

These policies corrode public trust. The police should be impartial. When they appear politicised, confidence collapses. Citing “operational independence,” Cooper’s department skirted the issue, as if race-based hiring wasn’t her problem.

It’s not that she hasn’t commented; she has. But her quote made clear she sees this as someone else’s job. If she can’t even raise concerns, what’s the point of the Home Secretary?

Labour seems more focused on appeasing activists than restoring common sense. And once meritocracy goes, trust in justice follows.

Cooper may talk tough on crime, but when it comes to fairness, her department says it is not a question for her. That is not leadership. It is abdication.

If the Home Secretary won’t act, the public must ask who really runs the police, and why the Government is afraid to find out.