{"id":935027,"date":"2026-05-03T13:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T13:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/935027\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T13:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T13:12:19","slug":"lucy-powell-says-labour-has-no-magic-bullet-as-mps-brace-for-heavy-losses-in-local-elections-labour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/935027\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucy Powell says Labour has \u2018no magic bullet\u2019 as MPs brace for heavy losses in local elections | Labour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labour\u2019s deputy leader has warned there will be \u201cno magic bullet\u201d to solve Labour\u2019s problems \u2013 or major challenges facing the country \u2013 as its MPs grapple with how to navigate the fallout out from the local elections.<\/p>\n

Lucy Powell<\/a> told the Guardian she understood there was \u201chuge anger and despondency\u201d from Labour MPs in the aftermath of the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal, but said the prime minister would not make a similar mistake again.<\/p>\n

Powell, who called for Keir Starmer to be more explicitly progressive during her deputy leadership campaign, said she would not engage in leadership speculation with the party facing a potential loss of more than 75% of the council seats it is defending, as well as losing power in Wales and failing to beat the SNP in Scotland.<\/p>\n

But she warned restive MPs there would be \u201cno one change\u201d that would lead to a reverse in fortunes. \u201cThere\u2019s no magic bullet here for us. We are in a difficult world,\u201d she said in an interview on the campaign trail in Leeds, where the party is facing off against both Reform and the Greens in different parts of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI strongly believe that we\u2019ve got the right agenda to start turning that around. To give people hope, an opportunity and see the change in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if Keir Starmer was the right leader to deliver it, Powell said: \u201cI\u2019m not going to get into that. I think there\u2019s no one change that [will affect] all of these situations. We\u2019ve still got to tackle these big issues, and we\u2019ve got to do it in the right way with the right values. Having some side order conversation about personnel and people, I think misses the point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy Powell canvassing in Roundhay, Leeds, on Wednesday. Photograph: Joel Goodman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Powell, a close friend and ally of Andy Burnham, who is reportedly preparing a leadership run<\/a>, said she knew the stakes were very high for the country. \u201cIf we get that wrong, then Nigel Farage is walking into Downing Street. We can all pretend that one switch over here would magically transform that. I just don\u2019t believe that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Powell said she hoped the country could now begin to move on from the Mandelson scandal, having spent the early part of last week ringing MPs to try to shore up support for Starmer ahead of the privileges committee vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a huge amount of anger, sort of despondency, I think. Every day that we\u2019re still on the fallout from the Mandelson appointment is a day we\u2019re not talking to our communities and our voters about what all our MPs and councillors want us to be talking about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Powell said she had always distrusted the former US ambassador, who was sacked after new revelations about his friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. \u201cI don\u2019t like the way he operates, it\u2019s always all about Peter, and I don\u2019t trust his judgment either. That\u2019s a view I\u2019ve long held. Not everybody held that view. He\u2019s not someone I would have even countenanced personally, but, that\u2019s mine and his history,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But she said she believed that No 10 was now a different operation, with the departure of several influential aides who had been key to appointing Mandelson.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime ministers do make hundreds of decisions. And they don\u2019t get them all right. This one Keir got wrong \u2026 It does speak to an era, some people call it \u2018the boys club\u2019, but a culture there in Downing Street, in our politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been quite a big move away from that and a recognition that the government was needing more differing views and opinions. Even in exactly the same circumstances. I don\u2019t think that same decision would be made now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer is thought to have rejected the idea of a wider reshuffle after the May elections as a way of trying to cement his position by bringing back soft left figures such as Powell and the former deputy leader, Angela Rayner, back to the full cabinet.<\/p>\n

But Powell said she preferred her role to be solely political. \u201cI\u2019m personally quite sceptical about reshuffles as a device. We need to be governing for the whole country. We need to be governing as one Labour party, bringing together all the different groups and factions in the Labour party,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we also need to have a much stronger sense of politics. I\u2019ve chosen to do this job entirely politically. I think I\u2019ve made actually more impact doing it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powell said that she believed the party could do better than the polls were predicting \u2013 and that Mandelson was not the major issue on the doorsteps, but whether Labour could really deliver change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have the best ground campaign by a mile in this country. There\u2019s a lot at stake. I\u2019m not really in the expectation management business. But what I think people find is that on the actual doorsteps, there are different conversations to be had.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of voters still quite unsure, especially in more Green-facing areas. I think it\u2019s very soft. All our amazing members and activists \u2013 they\u2019re very motivated to have those conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labour\u2019s deputy leader has warned there will be \u201cno magic bullet\u201d to solve Labour\u2019s problems \u2013 or major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":935028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-935027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116510821500903740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935027","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=935027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/935028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}