Blow for Starmer as sacked Cabinet minister Lucy Powell wins Labour deputy leader contest – and warns he is failing

Keir Starmer suffered another 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, although the turnout was just 16.6 per cent. 

In her victory speech in central London, Ms Powell said: ‘We are now in the fight of our lives, and we really are… division and hate are on the rise. People are looking around, looking elsewhere for the answers.’

She 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 said that the government needed to seize back the ‘megaphone’ and could not ‘out-Reform Reform’. ‘We’ve let Farage and his ilk run away with it,’ she added. 

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.

Left-wingers have been demanding ‘wealth taxes’ at the looming Budget 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.

Bridget Phillipson was viewed as the leadership’s candidate by dint of her status as a serving Cabinet minister

The latest miserable week for Keir Starmer 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 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. 

Labour MPs have demanded more spending funded by monster tax hikes at the Budget

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.