Keir Starmer suffered another hammer blow today as Lucy Powell was named as his new Labour deputy – and warned that he is not being ‘bold’ enough.
Ms Powell – who was sacked from the Cabinet by the PM just last month – saw off Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in the contest.
She received 87,407 votes compared to 73,536 for her rival, a margin of 54 per cent to 46 per cent, although the turnout was a dismal 16.6 per cent.
In her victory speech in central London, Ms Powell said the party is in the ‘fight of our lives’. ‘Division and hate are on the rise. People are looking around, looking elsewhere for the answers,’ she said.
Ms Powell warned that Labour has ‘one big chance’ to show that ‘progressive’ politics can ‘work’ for Britain.
While stressing she was there to ‘help’ Sir Keir, she gave a devastating assessment of his performance.
‘We must give a stronger sense of our purpose, whose side we are on and of our Labour values and beliefs,’ she said.
‘People feel that this government is not being bold enough in delivering the kind of change we promised.’
Ms Powell – who has made clear she does not want a ministerial role – said that the government needed to seize back the ‘megaphone’ and could not ‘out-Reform Reform’.
‘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,’ she said.
Speaking after his new deputy, Sir Keir admitted the extraordinary disaster in the Senedd by-election for Caerphilly yesterday had been ‘bad’.
He accused Reform and the Tories of wanting to ‘deport our neighbours’ with retrospective changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain status.
During the campaign, Lucy Powell frequently referred to ‘mistakes’ made by the Labour leadership on issues such as the winter fuel allowance
Bridget Phillipson was viewed as the leadership’s candidate by dint of her status as a serving Cabinet minister
Sir Keir embraced Ms Powell after her victory was announced
There was also a hug for defeated candidate Ms Phillipson, who will stay in her Cabinet job
The latest miserable week for Keir Starmer was capped yesterday when Plaid Cymru romped home in the Senedd by-election for Caerphilly
The Manchester MP has vowed to speak her mind about the need for the party to change direction.
She is a close ally of Andy Burnham – seen by some as a potential replacement for Sir Keir.
The result comes amid mounting Labour panic about a collapse in public support and the threat from Reform.
As crucial local elections loom in May, left-wingers have been demanding ‘wealth taxes’ at the Budget next month to fund a fresh spending splurge.
The latest miserable week for Sir Keir was capped yesterday when Plaid Cymru romped home in the Senedd by-election for Caerphilly.
Labour was relegated to third place with just 11 per cent of the vote in an area it has dominated for a century.
Nigel Farage’s party saw a massive surge to come second, although that was seen as a disappointing outcome.
Sir Keir said today: ‘We must press ahead with the renewal that working people need to see.
‘Now, this week, we received another reminder of just how urgent that task is.
‘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.
‘It is the offer we must make to the people of Scotland, Wales and England next year.
‘And that means we must come together. We must unite. We must keep our focus on what is, in my view, the defining battle for the soul of our nation.’
Reacting to the result, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage tweeted: ‘As only 160,000 Labour party members vote in the Deputy Leadership contest today, the question must now be…. How many members do they actually have?’
Today’s result comes in a bad week for the government, following a breath-taking blunder that resulted in a Channel migrant who was jailed for the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl released into the community, rather the sent for deportation.
Sir Keir has also seen his Channel boats plan descend into chaos, with a migrant returned to France under the vaunted ‘one in, one out’ deal turning up on UK shores again.
There are claims that Emmanuel Macron has reneged on an agreement to get tougher about stopping dinghies leaving the French coast.
And Germany appears to be backing off a commitment to close a loophole than means helping smuggle people to Britain is not illegal.
The deputy leader battle was triggered by the resignation of Angela Rayner after admitting underpaying stamp duty.
Ms Phillipson was viewed as the leadership’s candidate by dint of her status as a serving Cabinet minister.
She acknowledged the result was ‘disappointing’, but said: ‘I’ll remain a strong voice for our movement in Cabinet, working to deliver a crucial second term.’
Health Secretary Wes Streeting referred to the resignation of Ms Rayner, posting on X: ‘An election that nobody wanted, with two brilliant candidates and a worthy winner.’
Speaking after his new deputy, Sir Keir admitted the extraordinary disaster in the Senedd by-election for Caerphilly yesterday had been ‘bad’
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The Labour big beasts waited awkwardly to hear the news in central London this morning
During the campaign, Ms Powell frequently referred to ‘mistakes’ made by the party on issues such as the winter fuel allowance.
In a final message to supporters this week she appeared to criticise a ‘command and control’ culture within Government, arguing that ‘blindly following along’ was ‘a dereliction of our duty to defeat the politics of hate and division’.
Polls of Labour members have suggested more than half of whom now believe the party is heading in the wrong direction.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘Weak Keir Starmer has had the candidate he didn’t want and who he fired last month imposed on him by the Labour Party.
‘He didn’t have the backbone to stand up to Lucy Powell on welfare spending before, he won’t have the backbone stand up to Lucy Powell now.
‘That means more unfunded welfare spending like reversing the two-child cap and higher taxes this autumn to pay for it.’
