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Lucy Powell has won Labour’s deputy leadership election after a campaign based on a call for the party to change course. The election result could spell trouble for Sir Keir Starmer as Ms Powell will be free to speak out against his Government’s policies from the back benches rather than being bound by collective responsibility like her defeated deputy leadership rival, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. Ms Powell, the Manchester Central MP, was sacked from Sir Keir’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”.
