Lucy Powell calls on Labour not to ‘write off’ May local elections | Labour party deputy leadership
As her battle to become the party’s deputy leader enters its final stretch, Lucy Powell said Labor should not “write off” next May’s election as a moment of big losses, but instead use the budget as a way to get voters’ attention back.
While voting continues among party members, Powell’s incumbent rival, Bridget Phillipson, said that if she wins, she will establish a formal system that will regularly reflect the views of members and unions to the cabinet.
Powell was sacked in a cabinet reshuffle last month following the departure of Angela Rayner and has emerged as an outside favorite to win by promising to deliver hard truths to Keir Starmer and his team when necessary.
Speaking after a series of events with members over the weekend, Powell said there were concerns about the possible impact on the party of elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and councils to be held across England next May, with Labor predicted to suffer heavy losses, mostly from Reform UK.
Powell, who was leader of the House of Commons until the changes, said he was “not prepared to write off these hugely important elections as inevitable midterm pushback” and called for a bold budget in response.
“If we’re losing good Labor councilors and councils through no fault of their own because of missteps we’ve taken across the country, that’s OK,” he said. “We need to re-set the agenda so that more communities don’t wake up to Reform and other councils after election day next May.”
Powell stated that the November 26 budget should be “a moment to draw a line under our past mistakes and show the country whose side we are on,” adding that the two-child benefit cap should be removed and ensure a more equitable sharing of the tax burden.
Speaking on BBC One’s Laura Kuenssberg program on Sunday, education minister Phillipson stated that he believed the limit would be lifted.
“I believe that we, as a government, will do the right thing when it comes to children growing up in poverty in our country,” he said. “We have already started this process. There is more to be done. I will make it happen.”
Phillipson argued that as a cabinet minister he could ensure members’ concerns were heard directly at the top of the government. In a later commitment, his team said it would seek formal input from members and unions every three months on how to pitch in this way.
He said: “The Labor Party draws its strength from its members, so I want to give them a stronger voice in how the government delivers its agenda, by giving our movement more ways to tell us its priorities.
“Only under my deputy leader will members’ voices be heard loud and clear at the cabinet table.”
Electronic voting among party members began last Wednesday and will run until October 23, with results to be announced two days later.
