🔗 Share this article

Lucy Powell has secured the win in the Labour deputy leadership election, beating out her rival Bridget Phillipson.

Vote Breakdown and Outcome

Powell, previously the Commons leader until her removal in a September reshuffle, was frequently seen as the leading candidate during the race. She obtained 87,407 votes, making up 54% of the submitted ballots, while Phillipson received 73,536. Eligible voter turnout was recorded at 16.6%.

The result was declared on Saturday after balloting that many regarded as a referendum for party members on Labour's path under its current leadership. Phillipson, the education secretary, was perceived as the favored candidate of government circles.

Shared Policy Stances

Both contenders pushed for the abolition of the benefit limit for two children, a policy that provoked a revolt among MPs weeks after Labour assumed office and is strongly opposed among supporters.

Triumphant Remarks from Powell

Throughout her acceptance address spoken in front of the party leader and the home secretary, Powell suggested government shortcomings and remarked that Labour had not been assertive enough against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

She asserted, “We cannot succeed by attempting to outdo Reform.”

She urged the leadership to pay attention to party members and elected representatives, several of whom have lost party support since the party took control for voting against on issues such as social security costs and the two-child benefit cap.

“Party members and representatives are not a flaw, they’re our key asset, implementing reforms on the ground,” Powell noted. “Solidarity and allegiance stem from collective purpose, not from authoritarian rule. Arguing, attending and comprehending is not disloyalty. It’s our strength.”

She continued: “We have to offer optimism, to bring about the significant shift the country is calling for. We should communicate a clearer sense of our mission, who we represent, and of our party principles and convictions. That’s the feedback I got loudly and clearly around the country during the last several weeks.”

She also mentioned: “While we’re accomplishing many positive things … people feel that this government is lacking courage in implementing the kind of change we vowed. I will advocate for our core principles and boldness in everything we do.

“It starts with us reclaiming the public discourse and establishing the focus more assertively. Because let’s be honest, we’ve permitted Farage and his followers to run away with it.”

She remarked: “Discord and animosity are increasing, dissatisfaction and disenchantment prevalent, the yearning for transformation impatient and palpable. The public is looking in other places for answers, and we as the Labour party, as the governing force, have to advance and confront this.

“We have this major moment to prove that reformist, popular governance can indeed transform lives for the better.”

Leader's Remarks and Labour's Struggles

The party leader welcomed Powell’s victory, and recognized the difficulties confronting Labour, a day after the party lost a seat 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 cancelled and “go home” to establish a more “culturally coherent group of people”.

The leader said it demonstrated that the Conservatives and Reform sought to bring Britain to a “very dark place”.

“Our job, every one of us in this party, is to bring together every single person in this country who is opposed to that politics, and to beat it, permanently.

“This week we got another reminder of just how crucial that task is. A poor result in Wales. I accept that, but it is a reminder that people need to see around them and see change and renewal in their locality, prospects for the young, public services rebuilt, the resolved financial pressures.”

Race Details and Voter Engagement

The outcome was closer than expected; a recent poll had forecast Powell would get 58% of ballots cast. The participation rate of 16.6% was markedly lower than the previous deputy leadership election in 2020, which recorded 58.8%.

Grassroots and labor groups made up the 970,642 people eligible to vote.

The campaign grew progressively hostile over the past month and a half. Recently, Powell was called “the Momentum candidate” and Phillipson made remarks saying her competitor would cost the party the election.

The vote was initiated after the ex-deputy resigned last month when she was determined to have paid too little stamp duty on a property purchase.

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

Unlike her predecessor, Powell will not become deputy prime minister, with the position having already been given to another senior figure.

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

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