Powell says Labour ‘must change how we are doing things’
Lucy Powell was sacked from Keir 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 direction of the party in office.
She has insisted she wants to “help Keir and our government to succeed” but the party “must change how we are doing things to turn things around”.
In a final message to supporters earlier this week she said Labour had to be “more in touch with our movement, and the communities and workplaces we represent, more principled and strategic, less tactical, and strongly guided by our values”.
Key events
Newly elected deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell is to meet activists and party supporters in London alongside Labour party chair, Anna Turley.
You can follow along with the live stream now in the video below:
Jessica Elgot
The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, has shared her reaction to Lucy Powell being elected as Labour’s new deputy leader:
Powell’s election is a sign of the disillusionment of Labour members – but there is a much much bigger and more worrying sign. Turn out was just 16%.
This is likely to be the case because a large number trade union levy payers – who also get a vote – are unlikely to have turned out to vote.
Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the party had to give a stronger sense of its purpose, values and beliefs.
Powell won the deputy leadership contest with 54% of the vote, beating Bridget Phillipson, who took a 46% share.
You can listen to Powell’s speech from earlier in the video below:
Here are some images coming in via the newswires from this morning:
‘Country doesn’t have time for internal party feuds’ say Lib Dems in response to Powell victory
Responding to the news that Lucy Powell has been elected deputy leader of the Labour party, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said:
The fact that media were not allowed in to this announcement says it all. Labour just doesn’t listen.
People are feeling frustrated and disappointed that the government has failed to deliver the change they promised, after years of Conservative chaos and neglect.
We need to see far more urgency and ambition. Instead of punishing policies like the jobs tax and family farm tax, we need a much bolder plan for growth and the cost of living, for repairing our relationship with Europe and for fixing the NHS and care.
That must be Labour’s focus. The country doesn’t have any time for internal party factions or feuds.
Harry Taylor
Lucy Powell, who was the Commons leader until she was sacked in Keir Starmer’s reshuffle at the start of September, was seen as the favourite throughout Labour’s deputy leadership contest.
The result was announced on Saturday morning after a vote that was widely seen as a referendum for Labour members on the direction of the party under Starmer. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, was seen as Downing Street’s preferred candidate.
Both candidates called for the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, a policy that caused a parliamentary rebellion within weeks of Labour taking office and is largely unpopular with members.
The contest grew increasingly fractious over the last six weeks. Last weekend, Powell was described as “the Momentum candidate” and Phillipson gave an interview saying her rival would cost the party the election.
The vote was called after Angela Rayner resigned last month when she was found to have underpaid stamp duty on a house purchase in Brighton.
Unlike Rayner, Powell will not become deputy prime minister, with the position having already been given to David Lammy.
The result reflected polling which had suggested the MP for Manchester Central had a healthy lead as voting closed on Thursday.
She is seen as being closely associated with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who was accused of launching a leadership bid in all but name before the party’s conference last month.
During the campaign, Powell frequently referred to “mistakes” made by the party on issues such as the winter fuel allowance.
In a final message to supporters this week she appeared to criticise a “command and control” culture within government, arguing that “blindly following along” was “a dereliction of our duty to defeat the politics of hate and division”.
Pippa Crerar
The Guardian’s political editor, Pippa Crerar, says that Lucy Powell’s election as Labour’s new deputy leader will be “widely interpreted as a sign of disillusionment among party members, after she pledged to be their voice to leadership”.
Crerar also highlighted the low turnout of 16.6%.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said she would continue to be a “strong voice” at the cabinet table despite losing out to Lucy Powell in the deputy leadership contest.
Phillipson said:
I want to congratulate Lucy on her victory in this contest.
It’s crucial that our party now comes together to take the fight to Reform in next year’s crucial Senedd, Holyrood and local elections.
I am obviously disappointed at today’s result but I’m proud of the campaign I’ve run. I want to thank everyone who voted for me in this contest. I feel privileged to have had the chance of meeting members across the country, talking about their priorities and what they want to see: a united party, talking about the good things this Labour government is doing, not fixating on our mistakes.
Regardless of today’s result, I will always be a strong voice for our members and trade unions at the cabinet table and I will still be that powerful campaigning presence at the top of government working to deliver a crucial second term of Labour government.
Labour ‘must unite’ says Starmer as he admits past week has shown urgency of the task
The election of Lucy Powell as Labour deputy leader follows a bruising few days for Keir Starmer after the chaos in the grooming gangs inquiry, the return of a small boat migrant who was sent to France under the one in, one out deal, the error which saw Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu released from prison, and defeat for Labour in its Welsh stronghold of Caerphilly, reports the PA news agency.
Starmer said:
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. It is the offer we must make to the people of Scotland, Wales and England next year.
And that means we must come together. We must unite. We must keep our focus on what is, in my view, the defining battle for the soul of our nation.
Powell: Country and economy has ‘worked in the interests of the few, not the many’ for ‘too long’
Lucy Powell said Labour “won’t win by trying to out-Reform Reform” after being elected as the party’s new deputy leader.
Speaking after the results of the deputy leadership were announced, 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.
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.
The Manchester Central MP added:
We won’t win by trying to out-Reform Reform, but by building a broad progressive consensus.
Starmer describes Powell as ‘proud defender of Labour values’ and urges party to come together to protect British values
As mentioned below, Keir Starmer described the new deputy Labour leader, Lucy Powell, as “a proud defender of Labour values”. The prime minister also touched upon British values and said the Labour party needs to come together to defend them.
He added:
We’re facing opponents who want to wage war against all that.
Labour deputy leadership results breakdown
Here is a breakdown of the results:
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Lucy Powell received 87,407 votes from the Labour party membership and affiliates.
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Bridget Phillipson received 73,536 votes.
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The number of eligible voters was 970,642 and a total of 160,993 votes were cast, resulting in a turnout of 16.6%.
Powell was first elected as the MP for Manchester Central in a byelection in 2012. Her election as deputy leader marks the fourth time the Labour party has elected a woman to this position, after Margaret Beckett, Harriet Harman, and Angela Rayner.
Labour has to ‘offer hope’ and ‘the big change the country is crying out for’, says Powell
Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the party had to give a “stronger sense of our purpose” and our “values and beliefs”.
Powell won the Labour deputy leadership contest with 54% of the vote, beating Bridget Phillipson who took a 46% share.
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 said that “people feel that this government is not being bold enough in delivering the kind of change we promised”.
Powell says Labour ‘must change how we are doing things’
Lucy Powell was sacked from Keir 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 direction of the party in office.
She has insisted she wants to “help Keir and our government to succeed” but the party “must change how we are doing things to turn things around”.
In a final message to supporters earlier this week she said Labour had to be “more in touch with our movement, and the communities and workplaces we represent, more principled and strategic, less tactical, and strongly guided by our values”.
