🔗 Share this article

Lucy Powell has come out on top in the Labour deputy leadership election, overcoming her challenger Bridget Phillipson.

Ballot Details and Winner

Powell, previously the Commons leader until her removal in a recent reorganization, was largely viewed as the favorite during the contest. She garnered 87,407 votes, accounting for 54% of the total ballots, while Phillipson received 73,536. Turnout reached 16.6%.

The result was announced on Saturday following a vote that many regarded as a measure for party adherents on Labour's direction under its current leadership. Phillipson, the education secretary, was considered the favored candidate of the administration.

Agreed-Upon Policies

Both contenders pushed for the abolition of the benefit limit for two children, a policy that provoked a revolt among MPs soon after Labour came into government and is largely disliked among supporters.

Winning Speech by Powell

Throughout her victory speech delivered in the presence of the party leader and the home secretary, Powell alluded to errors from the government and remarked that Labour had lacked strength against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

She asserted, “Victory won't come by trying to out-Reform Reform.”

She exhorted the leadership to heed members and MPs, several of whom have had the whip withdrawn since the party gained power for rebelling on issues such as welfare spending and the two-child benefit cap.

“Party members and representatives are not a flaw, they’re our primary resource, effecting transformation on the ground,” Powell remarked. “Solidarity and allegiance arise from collective purpose, not from command-and-control. Discussing, heeding and understanding is not disloyalty. It’s our forte.”

She stated further: “We have to offer optimism, to deliver the major change the country is demanding. We need to express a more definite feeling of our purpose, where our loyalties lie, and of our Labour values and beliefs. That’s the message I received plainly and audibly across the nation over the past few weeks.”

She also mentioned: “Even as we achieve numerous benefits … voters sense that this government is lacking courage in implementing the type of transformation we promised. I intend to fight for our Labour values and boldness in everything we do.

“It starts with us seizing again the political narrative and establishing the focus more assertively. Because to be frank, we’ve allowed Farage and his ilk to dominate it.”

She observed: “Discord and animosity are increasing, discontent and disillusionment widespread, the desire for change urgent and evident. People are searching elsewhere for answers, and we as the Labour party, as the party of government, must step forward and tackle this.

“We have this single opportunity to show that forward-thinking, centrist policies truly can transform lives for the better.”

Reaction from Leader and Party Difficulties

The party leader applauded Powell’s success, and recognized the hurdles experienced by Labour, a day after the party suffered a defeat in the Welsh parliament to a rival party.

He referred to a statement made by a Conservative MP who recently asserted she believed “a large number of people” living legally in the UK should have their right to stay withdrawn and “go home” to establish a more “culturally coherent group of people”.

The leader stated it demonstrated that the Conservatives and Reform wanted to take Britain to a “very dark place”.

“Our job, regardless of position in this party, is to unite every single person in this country who is against that ideology, and to defeat it, permanently.

“This week we got another reminder of just how crucial that objective is. A bad outcome in Wales. I admit that, but it is a warning that people need to see around them and see change and renewal in their neighborhood, chances for the next generation, public services rebuilt, the addressed living costs.”

Election Context and Turnout

The result was tighter than anticipated; a recent poll had suggested Powell would get 58% of ballots cast. The voter engagement of 16.6% was significantly less than the previous deputy leadership election in 2020, which recorded 58.8%.

Grassroots and labor groups made up the 970,642 people able to cast ballots.

The contest grew progressively hostile over the recent weeks. Recently, Powell was labeled “the Momentum candidate” and Phillipson made remarks saying her rival would harm the party's electoral chances.

The vote was initiated after the former deputy resigned last month when she was determined to have shortchanged stamp duty on a property purchase.

Remarks in parliament this week – the first time she had done so since resigning following a report by the prime minister’s ethics adviser – the former deputy leader told MPs she would pay “any taxes owed”.

Differing from her predecessor, Powell will not assume the role of deputy prime minister, with the position having earlier bestowed to another senior figure.

Powell is viewed as being closely linked with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who was alleged to have starting a run for the top job in all but name before the party’s previous assembly.

Throughout the race, Powell often referenced “mistakes” made by the party on issues such as the winter fuel allowance.