Labour not ‘bold enough’ says Powell as she becomes deputy leader

Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell called on Sir Keir Starmer to be bolder and show “whose side we are on” as a Cabinet minister said the party had to change after the Caerphilly humiliation.

Ms Powell, who was sacked from the Prime Minister’s Cabinet last month, said Sir Keir’s Government had to show a “stronger sense of our purpose”.

And she warned against Labour shifting to the right to counter the threat posed by Nigel Farage, warning “we can’t out-Reform Reform”.

Her election came at the end of a bruising week for Sir Keir, which included finishing a distant third in the Senedd by-election in Caerphilly, a town which has voted Labour for more than 100 years.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Caerphilly defeat – Labour won just 11% of the vote as Plaid Cymru took the Senedd seat for the first time, with Reform UK in second – could not just be taken on the chin.

He compared the result to the 2021 Hartlepool by-election which left Sir Keir considering quitting as Labour leader.

Mr Streeting told the Sunday Times: “When we were in opposition, we were shocked that Hartlepool — a town that had always been loyal to Labour — rejected us at the ballot box.

“Keir Starmer not only took that result on the chin, he took it to heart. And he used Hartlepool and the experience of Hartlepool to drive through the change in the Labour Party necessary to make it electable and capable of winning a general election that no one thought we would win.

“I have no doubt that, having done that before, Keir can do that again. We’ve got to take the message from Caerphilly not just on the chin, we’ve got to take it to heart — and we have got to change the way our Labour Government drives change and delivers in just the same way we did in opposition after Hartlepool.”

He said there was “a progressive majority available that can defeat Reform and Farage” and “the Labour Party needs to show, through our actions, not just through our words, that we are going to deliver the change people voted for”.

Ms Powell’s election could spell trouble for Sir Keir 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.

She has insisted she will not be “throwing bricks” at Sir Keir but will attempt to represent the concerns of grassroots members to the party leader.

She defeated Ms Phillipson by taking a 54% share of the vote against the Education Secretary’s 46%.

But turnout in the contest was just 16.6% of eligible voters, suggesting a lack of enthusiasm among the party’s members and affiliates.

The new deputy leader said: “We have to offer hope, to offer the big change the country is crying out for.

“We must give a stronger sense of our purpose, whose side we are on and of our Labour values and beliefs.”

She said that “people feel that this Government is not being bold enough in delivering the kind of change we promised”.

The contest was triggered by Angela Rayner’s resignation after she failed to pay the correct stamp duty on a property purchase.

Ms Powell received 87,407 votes from the Labour Party membership and affiliates while Ms Phillipson received 73,536 votes.

Labour has tightened up its policies on migration in an attempt to counter the threat posed by Reform UK.

But Ms Powell warned “we won’t win by trying to out-Reform Reform, but by building a broad progressive consensus”.

She  said: “It starts with us wrestling back the political megaphone and setting the agenda more strongly.

“Because let’s be honest, we’ve let Farage and his ilk run away with it. He wants to blame immigration for all the country’s problems.

“We reject that. Our diagnosis is different: that for too long, the country and the economy has worked in the interests of the few, not the many.”

Ms Powell’s election follows a challenging few days for Sir Keir after the chaos in the grooming gangs inquiry, the return of a small boat migrant who was sent to France under the one in, one out deal, the blunder which saw Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu released from prison, and the Caerphilly loss.

Sir Keir said the defeat showed the need to press ahead with “the renewal that working people need to see”.

“A bad result in Wales, I accept that, but a reminder that people need to look out their window and see change and renewal in their community, opportunities for their children, public services rebuilt, the cost of living crisis tackled.

“Renewal is the only answer to decline, to grievance and to division and we have to keep going on that.”

Ms Powell lost her seat at the Cabinet table as Commons leader in the reshuffle triggered by Ms Rayner’s resignation from her ministerial and party roles.

Manchester Central MP Ms Powell was endorsed by Mainstream, the group backed by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – long viewed as a potential leadership rival to Sir Keir.

Ms Powell was forced to apologise in May after appearing to dismiss concerns about grooming gangs as a “dog whistle” issue.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Never forget, this is the woman who said that calling for a Grooming Gangs Inquiry was a ‘dog whistle’.

“Now she’s the deputy leader of the Labour Party. It’s shameful, and a testament to the total weakness of Keir Starmer.”