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Lucy Powell has come out on top in the contest for Labour's deputy leader, overcoming her challenger Bridget Phillipson.

Election Results and Figures

Powell, previously the Commons leader until her removal in a September reorganization, was largely viewed as the leading candidate across the contest. She garnered 87,407 votes, accounting for 54% of the cast ballots, while Phillipson got 73,536. Turnout reached 16.6%.

The outcome was announced on Saturday morning that many saw as a referendum for party supporters on Labour's path under its current leadership. Phillipson, the education secretary, was viewed as the favored candidate of Downing Street.

Agreed-Upon Policies

Both contenders advocated for the elimination of the cap on benefits for third children, a policy that caused a parliamentary rebellion weeks after Labour took power and is largely disliked among the party base.

Winning Speech by Powell

Throughout her winning remarks delivered in the presence of the party leader and the home secretary, Powell hinted at errors from the government and commented that Labour had lacked strength against Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

She declared, “Victory won't come by competing with Reform.”

She exhorted the leadership to listen to party members and elected representatives, a number of whom have been disciplined since the party entered government for defying the party on issues such as benefit outlays and the two-child benefit cap.

“Our members and elected representatives are not our liability, they’re our greatest strength, effecting transformation on the ground,” Powell remarked. “Unity and loyalty arise from common aims, not from authoritarian rule. Discussing, heeding and understanding is not rebellion. It’s our advantage.”

She added: “We need to give hope, to provide the big transformation the country is yearning for. We need to express a more definite feeling of our mission, where our loyalties lie, and of our party principles and convictions. That’s what I’ve heard plainly and audibly around the country during the last several weeks.”

She additionally commented: “Even as we achieve numerous benefits … the public believes that this government is not being bold enough in executing the kind of change we vowed. I will advocate for our Labour values and daring in each endeavor.

“It starts with us reclaiming the political narrative and setting the agenda more forcefully. Because let’s be honest, we’ve allowed Farage and his followers to run away with it.”

She remarked: “Rifts and hostility are on the rise, discontent and disillusionment commonplace, the demand for reform impatient and palpable. Voters are seeking elsewhere for solutions, and we as the Labour party, as the party of government, have to advance and tackle this.

“We have this one big chance to show that progressive, mainstream politics can indeed improve living conditions for the better.”

Leadership Response and Party Challenges

The party leader greeted Powell’s success, and recognized the challenges faced by Labour, a day after the party suffered a defeat in the Welsh parliament to a rival party.

He cited a comment made by a Conservative MP who recently asserted she believed “a large number of people” living legally in the UK should have their right to stay withdrawn and “go home” to establish a more “culturally coherent group of people”.

The leader said it indicated that the Conservatives and Reform sought to bring Britain to a “very dark place”.

“Our job, whoever we are in this party, is to bring together every single person in this country who is opposed to that politics, and to beat it, permanently.

“This week we had another signal of just how urgent that mission is. A poor result in Wales. I acknowledge that, but it is a warning that people need to observe their surroundings and witness transformation and revitalization in their locality, prospects for the young, revitalized state services, the addressed living costs.”

Contest Background and Participation

The outcome was more narrow than predicted; a recent opinion survey had forecast Powell would obtain 58% of ballots cast. The turnout of 16.6% was markedly lower than the last deputy leadership election in 2020, which saw 58.8%.

Grassroots and labor groups made up the 970,642 people able to cast ballots.

The contest grew increasingly contentious over the past month and a half. Recently, Powell was called “the Momentum candidate” and Phillipson gave an interview saying her rival would harm the party's electoral chances.

The election was called after the former deputy resigned last month when she was discovered to have paid too little stamp duty on a property purchase.

Speaking in parliament this week – the first time she had done so since resigning following a report by the prime minister’s ethics adviser – the former deputy leader told MPs she would pay “any taxes owed”.

Unlike her predecessor, Powell will not assume the role of deputy prime minister, with the office having previously assigned to another senior figure.

Powell is regarded as being closely linked with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who was charged with starting a run for the top job in all but name before the party’s last gathering.

Throughout the race, Powell repeatedly cited “missteps” made by the party on issues such as the winter fuel allowance.