Lucy Powell has won Labour's deputy leadership election with 54% of the vote, defeating Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson who received 46%. The Manchester Central MP campaigned on a call for the party to change course and will now be free to speak out against Sir Keir Starmer's government policies from the back benches.
Powell was sacked from Starmer's Cabinet in September and has indicated she will refuse a return to a government role so she can speak more openly about the party's direction. The victory could spell fresh trouble for Starmer (Labour) as Powell will not be bound by collective responsibility like her defeated rival.
Powell received 87,407 votes from Labour Party membership and affiliates while Phillipson received 73,536 votes. However, turnout was just 16.6% for the contest triggered by Angela Rayner's resignation after she failed to pay the correct stamp duty on a property purchase.
Victory message and criticism
The new deputy leader said: "We have to offer hope, to offer the big change the country is crying out for. We must give a stronger sense of our purpose, whose side we are on and of our Labour values and beliefs."
She criticised the government's approach, saying that "people feel that this Government is not being bold enough in delivering the kind of change we promised". Powell argued that Labour must wrestle back control of the political narrative.
Reform UK strategy critique
In an apparent criticism of Labour's approach to tackling Nigel Farage's Reform UK, Powell said Labour "won't win by trying to out-Reform Reform" after being crowned deputy leader. She accused the party of letting Farage set the agenda on immigration.
Speaking after her victory, Powell said: "It starts with us wrestling back the political megaphone and setting the agenda more strongly. Because let's be honest, we've let Farage and his ilk run away with it. He wants to blame immigration for all the country's problems."
She added: "We reject that. Our diagnosis is different: that for too long, the country and the economy has worked in the interests of the few, not the many. We won't win by trying to out-Reform Reform, but by building a broad progressive consensus."
Starmer faces mounting pressure
Powell's election follows a bruising few days for Starmer after chaos in the grooming gangs inquiry, the return of a small boat migrant sent to France under the one in, one out deal, and defeat for Labour in its Welsh stronghold of Caerphilly. The week also saw the blunder which saw Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu released from prison.
Starmer acknowledged the challenges, saying: "We must press ahead with the renewal that working people need to see. Now, this week, we received another reminder of just how urgent that task is. A bad result in Wales, I accept that, but a reminder that people need to look out their window and see change and renewal in their community, opportunities for their children, public services rebuilt, the cost of living crisis tackled. Renewal is the only answer to decline, to grievance and to division and we have to keep going on that."
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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