Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell go head-to-head for Labour deputy leadership

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and former Commons leader Lucy Powell will fight it out for Labour’s deputy leadership after both secured enough support to make it through to the second round of the contest.

Backbencher Bell Ribeiro-Addy was knocked out of the race after she failed to get the 80 nominations from Labour MPs required to advance to the next stage.

Ms Phillipson picked up 175 nominations, Ms Powell 117 and Ms Ribeiro-Addy 24, according to the final tally after Thursday’s 5pm deadline.

Frontrunner Ms Phillipson promised to give party members a “strong voice at the Cabinet table”.

In a video posted on X, she said: “I’m so proud to have received the most nominations from Labour MPs and from seats right across the country.

“My message to members is simple: I want to unite our party and our movement, deliver the change our country needs and beat Reform.

“I want a mandate from our members to deliver more hope, more opportunity for working people, and more of the transformative policies that you, our members and trade unionists, and working people want to see.”

She also pledged to “continue Angela’s campaigning role, focusing on getting Labour MPs re-elected, giving our members a strong voice at the Cabinet table”.

Ms Powell, who was sacked as Commons leader in Sir Keir Starmer’s recent reshuffle, vowed to act as a “bridge for all parts” of the party.

In a statement after the ballot was announced, she said: “This is not a contest I expected nor any of us wanted but we must use it to focus on how the new deputy leader can be a bridge for all parts of our movement and help the Government deliver the progressive change the country needs.

“I am Labour through and through. I will always fight for our party, our values and our traditions. At a time when there are forces trying to spread division and hatred, Labour must be the voice of unity and hope.”

The three other MPs who had initially thrown their hat in the ring to succeed Angela Rayner – who quit after a row over her tax affairs – struggled to get anywhere near the threshold and dropped out before nominations closed.

They were Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry, backbencher Paula Barker and housing minister Alison McGovern.

The two remaining candidates will now have to secure the support of 5% of constituency parties or at least three affiliates – including at least two affiliated trade unions.

The ballot for candidates who clear the nomination hurdles will open on October 8 and close at noon on October 23, with the result announced on October 25.

The prospect of a contested election threatens to overshadow Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool at the end of September, with some seeing it as a referendum on the Prime Minister’s leadership.

But neither Ms Phillipson, a Cabinet minister, nor Ms Powell has so far been openly critical of Sir Keir, while other candidates had explicitly called for a change of direction.

Despite being sacked by Sir Keir last week, Ms Powell said she had been “proud” to serve in government when announcing her candidacy, while Ms Phillipson said she would “unite the party, take the fight to Reform, and deliver for our country”.

Both Houghton and Sunderland South MP Ms Phillipson and Manchester Central MP Ms Powell tick the box of those within the party expressing a preference for Ms Rayner’s successor to hail from the north of England.

Announcing her elimination, left-wing MP Ms Ribeiro-Addy said on X: “Unfortunately, I have not secured the high number of nominations required to proceed in the deputy leadership contest.

“I am disappointed that the full range of Labour members’ views will not be represented on the ballot paper.”

The Clapham and Brixton Hill MP urged the two finalists to “be braver about the kind of debate and change demanded by Labour voters and members up and down the country”.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir continued his shake-up of Downing Street, giving his outgoing head of policy delivery Liz Lloyd a peerage and a ministerial job in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade.