Top Labour MP to speak in NI about refugee crisis

A former Labour government minister will make a plea for a 'more ambitious international response to the refugee crisis' during a speech in Belfast next month.

By The Newsroom

Published 1st Sep 2016, 16:27 BST

Updated 1st Sep 2016, 17:31 BST

Yvette Cooper, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford in the north of England, will give the Amnesty International Annual Lecture on the theme of “Fixing the Refugee Crisis”.

She is chairwoman of the Labour Party’s Refugee Taskforce, and had formerly been Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

In the 2015 Labour leadership contest, she came third out of four in the race, which was won convincingly by Jeremy Corbyn.

She will speak at south Belfast’s Elmwood Hall on Thursday, October 20, as part of the Ulster Bank Belfast International Arts Festival.

Afterwards, a question and answer session will be hosted by BBC journalist William Crawley.

Tickets are available free from the arts festival box office.