{"id":424301,"date":"2025-09-14T18:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T18:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/424301\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T18:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T18:20:11","slug":"phillipson-and-powell-kick-off-labour-deputy-race-with-very-different-visions-for-role-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/424301\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillipson and Powell kick off Labour deputy race with very different visions for role | Labour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell<\/a> fired the starting pistol in Labour\u2019s deputy leadership race on Sunday, with the education secretary saying now was not the time to \u201clook backward\u201d on mistakes made by the party in its first year of government.<\/p>\n

The pair set out strikingly different approaches to the role of deputy leader, with Powell saying she would be an independent voice who would speak truth to senior leadership including Keir Starmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Phillipson is widely seen as No 10\u2019s choice for the role, with Powell recently ousted from the cabinet as leader of the House of Commons.<\/p>\n

Powell, in her first message to members, promised to be a \u201cfull-time deputy leader\u201d and an \u201cindependent voice\u201d as opposed to Phillipson\u2019s potential dual role as education secretary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want this Labour<\/a> government to succeed, and sometimes that means having the difficult conversations,\u201d she said in her email to constituency Labour parties. \u201cI won\u2019t snipe from the sidelines. But when we get things wrong, I have the guts to say we need to change course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to listen to the country, and our movement. When we don\u2019t, we make mistakes that overshadow our achievements. That\u2019s how we succeed and that\u2019s where our strength lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phillipson launched her campaign with supporters in Sunderland on Sunday, promising to take on Reform UK with her experience fighting a \u201cred wall\u201d seat for Labour.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can use this contest to look backward, to pass judgment on what has happened in the last year or you can use it to shape positively what happens in the run-up to the next election,\u201d she said in an address to party members, who will vote next month.<\/p>\n

Phillipson said she would run a campaign of \u201chope, not grievance\u201d and warned the party against descending into division. She said that having an experienced campaigner in the role was vital.<\/p>\n

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\u201cToday, I pledge to continue Angela Rayner\u2019s campaigning role as deputy leader,\u201d she said. \u201cContinuing her mission to give members a strong voice at the cabinet table.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer ruthless focus on getting our candidates elected and re-elected, alongside her total determination to drive change from government. Because what mattered was not just what she believed, but that she could act on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powell said she also had a strong record as a campaigner, describing her safe Manchester Central seat as \u201chalf red-wall, half urban\u201d \u2013 suggesting she could take on the threat of Reform and the Greens.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll over the country, we\u2019re at risk of losing votes to both sides. We must tell a better story and offer a bold vision: to unite our broad coalition, and unite our country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fracturing and division taking over our democracy worries us all. We have a huge responsibility to get this right. We need to show whose side we are on. That\u2019s how we\u2019ll get back on course. That\u2019s how we\u2019ll unite the country and deliver the change that we promised.\u201d<\/p>\n

The candidates must also gain nominations from constituency parties and affiliates before ballots are issued to members. A hustings will take place at the Labour party conference, with ballots opening on Wednesday 8 October and closing on Thursday 23 October. The result will be declared on 25 October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell fired the starting pistol in Labour\u2019s deputy leadership race on Sunday, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-424301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115204038531085905","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}