By LabourHome Sunday, 20 September 2025
As the Labour deputy leadership contest heats up, Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell has doubled down on her vision of an “independent voice” to heal party rifts, with fresh grassroots endorsements propelling her into a commanding early lead among constituency Labour parties (CLPs). In an email to members circulated amid a wave of nomination votes, Powell blends pride in government wins with a candid call to fix “mistakes,” positioning herself as the bridge Labour needs to hold its diverse coalition together.
The message, shared with CLP activists and supporters, roots her pitch in personal history: “I joined the Labour Party in 1989, and my politics were shaped growing up in Manchester during the Thatcher years. I’m Labour through and through.” Vowing to serve as a full-time deputy leader “working with and alongside the government” but ready for “difficult conversations,” Powell highlights her Commons leadership role in pushing “transformative legislation”—from generational employment rights reforms and railway renationalisation to Great British Energy and ending water bosses’ bonuses.
She doesn’t shy from challenges: “Too many of these achievements have been overshadowed by mistakes. We’ve got to turn this around because our communities need this Labour government to succeed. The stakes are too high.” Powell’s remedy is immersion in the party’s base—“outside Cabinet, but inside every constituency, every council, every part of our movement”—to embed values in policy. Drawing on her Manchester seat’s mix of “red-wall” working-class wards and urban-left areas, she warns of “fracturing and division” in democracy and pledges a “bold vision that can unite our coalition and the country.”
Endorsed by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, and MPs Miatta Fahnbulleh and Stephen Kinnock, Powell invites members to online events: “Campaigning full-time, laser focused on these tasks towards elections next year, I can help us succeed and feel proud. But I need your help.”
The email’s timing coincides with a weekend flurry of CLP decisions in the race triggered by Angela Rayner’s 5 September resignation over a tax issue. Whittled to Powell and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson after dropouts by Emily Thornberry, Paula Barker and left-winger Bell Ribeiro-Addy (who mustered just 24 MP nods), both cleared the 80-MP threshold: Powell with 117 (strong among soft-left Tribune Group and northern MPs), Phillipson with 175 (backed by centrists like Labour First and six Cabinet ministers, including Pat McFadden).
Latest CLP nominations, confirm Powell’s dominance in CLPs: 29 nominations, including fresh wins from Farnham and Bordon and Oxford West and Abingdon announced late Friday. This builds on her prior tally of 27, surpassing the 33-CLP threshold first to secure her October ballot spot. Phillipson holds steady at 14, such as Sunderland Central and Sutton Coldfield, but qualified via affiliates on 19 September.
With nominations open until 27 September across all eligible CLPs, Powell’s momentum mirrors LabourList-Survation polling showing her 17 points ahead among members (47% to 30%), driven by appetite for an “independent” deputy amid early government wobbles.
Heading into Liverpool conference hustings on 1 October, Powell’s grassroots surge underscores member frustrations, betting her unifying, campaign-focused pitch can outpace Phillipson’s union and establishment edge. With ballots from 8-23 October and results on 25 October, the outcome will signal Labour’s internal balance as it eyes 2029 amid Reform UK and Lib Dem threats.
