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

Vote Breakdown and Outcome

Ex-Commons leader until a reshuffle in a recent reorganization, was widely considered the frontrunner during the campaign. She secured 87,407 votes, accounting for 54% of the submitted ballots, whereas Phillipson got 73,536. Turnout was recorded at 16.6%.

The outcome was announced on Saturday following a vote that many interpreted as a indicator for party supporters on Labour's direction under its current leadership. Phillipson, the minister for education, was perceived as the preferred choice of government circles.

Common Policy Positions

Each candidate advocated for the abolition of the two-child benefit cap, a policy that caused a revolt among MPs weeks after Labour took power and is largely disliked among the party base.

Triumphant Remarks from Powell

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

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

She exhorted the leadership to listen to members and MPs, a number of whom have lost party support since the party gained power for defying the party on issues such as benefit outlays and the two-child benefit cap.

“Party members and representatives are not our liability, they’re our greatest strength, effecting transformation on the ground,” Powell said. “Cohesion and faithfulness arise from common aims, not from top-down directives. Debating, listening and hearing is not disloyalty. It’s our forte.”

She stated further: “We must provide hope, to bring about the significant shift the country is calling for. We must convey a clearer sense of our mission, where our loyalties lie, and of our Labour values and beliefs. That’s what I’ve heard plainly and audibly across the nation during the last several weeks.”

She also mentioned: “While we’re accomplishing many positive things … the public believes that this government is failing to be daring in implementing the type of transformation we vowed. I intend to fight for our core principles and boldness in all our actions.

“It begins with us seizing again the political megaphone and establishing the focus more forcefully. Because to be frank, we’ve let Farage and his ilk to dominate it.”

She stated: “Rifts and hostility are growing, discontent and disillusionment prevalent, the demand for reform urgent and evident. People are searching in other places for responses, and we as the Labour party, as the governing force, need to come forth and confront this.

“We have this one big chance to show that progressive, mainstream politics can indeed transform lives for the better.”

Leader's Remarks and Labour's Struggles

The party leader greeted Powell’s victory, and acknowledged the challenges faced by Labour, a day after the party was defeated in the Welsh parliament to a rival party.

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

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

“Our responsibility, regardless of position in this party, is to bring together every single person in this country who is opposed to that approach, and to beat it, once and for all.

“This week we got another reminder of just how urgent that objective is. A disappointing performance in Wales. I accept that, but it is a cue that people need to observe their surroundings and witness transformation and revitalization in their community, opportunities for their children, revitalized state services, the cost-of-living crisis tackled.”

Contest Background and Participation

The result was more narrow than predicted; a recent poll had suggested Powell would get 58% of ballots cast. The turnout of 16.6% was markedly lower than the last deputy leadership election in 2020, which had 58.8%.

Party members and union associates comprised the 970,642 people eligible to vote.

The race grew more fractious over the last six weeks. Recently, Powell was called “the Momentum candidate” and Phillipson gave an interview saying her rival would harm the party's electoral chances.

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

Remarks in parliament this week – the first time she had done so since stepping down 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 be appointed deputy prime minister, with the position having previously assigned to another senior figure.

Powell is viewed as being closely linked with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who was charged with launching a leadership bid in all but name before the party’s recent conference.

Throughout the race, Powell repeatedly cited “missteps” made by the party on issues such as the winter fuel allowance.