Labour’s new deputy leader says party must pay more heed to its members | Lucy Powell

Labor’s new deputy leader, Lucy Powell, said the government should listen to its members rather than be guided by a “narrow set of voices” as it fights to avoid electoral disaster in next May’s local elections.

Powell defeated education minister Bridget Phillipson in the deputy leadership contest that ended Saturday. He said he had been given “a clear mandate that members wanted their voices heard at the top of the party”.

The Manchester Central MP received 87,407 votes, with 54% of the vote, while Phillipson received 73,536 votes. Turnout was just 16.6 per cent, which some Labor insiders say indicates widespread disillusionment within the party.

The result was announced on Saturday against the backdrop of Labour’s disastrous by-election performance in Caerphilly. The party came third behind Plaid Cmyru and Reform and received just 11% of the vote in the safe seat that Labor has held since the formation of the Welsh Senedd in 1999.

Both Labor deputy presidential candidates spoke in favor of removing the two-child benefit limit, something that was unpopular with members.

Speaking to the Guardian, Powell said: “I think a lot of times we feel like our members and our elected representatives are something we need to stand against or undervalue. They are our strengths.”

“They connect us to the national conversation. Instead of just telling people what we want them to do, we need to respect, value and engage people more, recognize that debate is not about division or dissent, and recognize that we need to take people along and hear from a broader set of voices, not just a narrower set of voices.”

“They haven’t felt included and connected as they should in recent months, and that’s what often happens when you get into government.

“I will really help do that, get them back into the party and feel part of the conversation again, and I will do that by working with Keir. [Starmer]working with the government, working in the leadership roles that I will have across the party.

Powell, who was sacked as leader of the House of Commons by Starmer in September, said he would start working “immediately” to shore up Labor support ahead of local elections next May. He said the party needed to be clearer about its achievements in office.

He said: “I’m not canceling any elections next year. These are important elections in Wales, Scotland, London and all over the country.”

“I’m going to start working immediately on how we can mobilize for these elections, how we can rebuild our coalition of voters and how we can recognize the existence of a progressive alliance in this country. We need to be the leaders of this and not fall outside of Reform because that’s not working.”

“It’s not that long. I think we need to get the agenda back; we’ve given up too much in recent months.

“There are so many great things we are doing, I think we can all agree on that, from giving workers more rights, to pay rises, more hospital appointments, free school meals and breakfast clubs.

“I think we need to bring them all together more strongly, about how we work to advance our agenda in the interests of the many, not the few.”

An ally of Phillipson, who is widely perceived as Downing Street’s favorite candidate, said it was “always going to be difficult to assuage the anger of members who have shown how unhappy they are with this outcome”.

They added: “Bridget came forward out of loyalty to Keir. She believed standing was the right thing to do when it was clear no one in the cabinet was prepared to stand.”

Starmer congratulated Powell on his victory. He said the Conservatives and Reform wanted to take Britain “to a dark place”, prompting one strategist to suggest he was moving towards a more progressive style of politics.

The Prime Minister referred to comments from Conservative MP Katie Lam, who has been named as a possible future party leader. He said he believed “large numbers of people” living legally in the UK should have their right to remain revoked and be forced to “go home” to create a “culturally cohesive group of people” in the UK.

Starmer said: “Whoever we are in this party, our job is to unite everyone in this country who opposes this policy and defeat it once and for all.”