Yvette Cooper MP: John Prescott – he told it like it was

Yvette Cooper MP writes: I thought about that a lot this week when I heard that Labour’s former Deputy Leader John Prescott had died. John didn’t just leave a legacy for the people of Kingston upon Hull East, the constituency he served for 40 years. He left a legacy for communities all across our country, including here in the Five Towns.

Anyone who remembers the major upgrade of council homes and social housing that Wakefield District Housing carried out 20 years ago will know that, across the area, hundreds of family homes got new windows, new heating systems, new kitchens, and proper repairs done – that was all because of the Decent Homes Programme that John delivered in government.

That was the first time I worked with him, and while I saw first hand the fierce and funny style he became famous for, I also saw how warm-hearted and passionate he was about helping working families and communities.

One of those passions was coalfield regeneration. He once said to me: “I watched Brassed Off – I thought, ‘We’ve got to do something’.” And so, under the last Labour government and thanks to John’s leadership, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust was born. It helped drive the regeneration of derelict pit sites and invested in training and community facilities too. We managed to get new funding for Ferrybridge Community Centre and other local services as a result.

I once invited John to Xscape to see the results of some of his work, at the ski slope built on the former Glasshoughton colliery site. One of the first ski instructors was a former miner who had retraining support provided by the Coalfield Regeneration Trust. John was so enthusiastic, he wanted to put on skis and get a lesson straight away. Gleeful photographers were desperate for him to have a go, but a worried civil servant persuaded him he might be better returning without the photographers another day.

But that was John, always ready to throw himself into anything. He had a huge impact everywhere he went, and on everyone he met, and if he saw a problem, he would do everything he could to fix it.

After all, this was a working-class lad who left school aged 15, then worked his way up from the kitchens on a Cunard Liner aged 17 to become Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. So you could never tell John that there was something he couldn’t do.

“Traditional values in a modern setting,” were John’s own words about what he believed in, and that phrase is as important now as ever.

He told it like it was, and he never stopped fighting for the things he believed in and the opportunity to change people’s lives. He made a huge difference in our community, up and down the country, as well as the across the world through his work on climate action. He has not just left a legacy of achievement behind, but an example for anyone in power to follow.