Lucy Powell says Labour’s ‘unforced errors’ have cost the party support

Labour’s “mistakes” have given the impression that it is “not on the side of ordinary people”, a candidate for the party’s deputy leadership has said.

In an interview with the BBC, former Commons leader Lucy Powell praised the Government’s “many achievements”, but said people had “lost sense” of Labour’s values and “on whose side we are governing”.

She told the Political Thinking podcast: “Some of the mistakes that we’ve made, or some of the unforced errors, have given a sense that we’re not on the side of ordinary people.”

Ms Powell, who was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer in the reshuffle following Angela Rayner’s resignation, faces Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in the contest to become Labour’s deputy leader.

Although she came second to Ms Phillipson in terms of nominations from Labour parliamentarians, polling suggests the Manchester Central MP has a significant lead among party members.

“Conduit”

In her interview, she said she would not want to return to the Cabinet, and would instead act as a “conduit” between the wider party and the Labour leadership.

But while Ms Powell said Sir Keir had not given a specific reason for sacking her, she believed it may have been due to the “feedback” she gave the Cabinet from Labour MPs on issues such as welfare reform.

She said: “I thought I was doing the job I was supposed to be doing, but maybe that wasn’t feedback people wanted to hear.”

Freed from Cabinet collective responsibility, Ms Powell urged the Government to be “clearer” about wanting to scrap the two-child benefit cap – a significant issue for many Labour backbenchers.

Cap

Acknowledging that abolishing the cap may not be achievable immediately, she said the Government should still be “working towards” it as “the single biggest policy we could do to address child poverty”.

Asked whether Labour was trying to “out-Reform Reform”, she urged her party to provide a “common vision” that could use the economy to “unite that progressive voter coalition” rather than “tacking one way or tacking the other”.

She said: “They might not say it like that, but a fairer economy that works in the interests of the many and not the few, and having a story to tell about whose side we’re on, whose interests we’re serving, unites that voter coalition.

Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said Ms Powell’s comments on the two-child benefit cap showed the deputy leadership contest had “descended into a race to the bottom for unlimited welfare spending”.

He said: “Be in no doubt, Labour is the party of fiscal irresponsibility. Only the Conservatives will stop this irresponsible behaviour and the higher taxes that come with it.”