The two rivals vying to be Labour’s next deputy leaders are beginning their final week of campaigning before the polls in the contest close.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has vowed to reduce child poverty and warned that not voting for her will result in “internal debate and divisions that leads us back to opposition”.
Lucy Powell, the Manchester Central MP and former Government minister, said she would offer a “strong, independent voice at the top” in what could be Labour members’ last chance to change the party’s course before the next general election.
The deputy leadership contest was triggered after Angela Rayner stood down over a row over her tax affairs.
Results will be announced on Saturday, October 25.
Come rain or shine, I’ll be your campaigning Deputy Leader. pic.twitter.com/wgSQHptGGY
— Bridget Phillipson (@bphillipsonMP) October 19, 2025
As the final week of canvassing begins, Ms Phillipson said she had received a “clear message” from Labour party members: “They want our party to offer hope and they want to be proud to knock doors and tell people about the policies that are changing lives under a Labour government.”
The Education Secretary emphasised she would have a seat at the Cabinet table, in her final message to party members, unlike her rival, who is currently not a member of the Government.
She said: “With a seat at the Cabinet table and a mandate from members I will ensure child poverty falls in this Parliament. That’s why so many of us joined Labour.
“I’ll consult members and take their priorities to the heart of Government just like Angela Rayner, Harriet Harman and John Prescott did.”
She added: “This contest is a choice – we can choose to talk about change or we can choose to deliver it. We can return to the internal debate and divisions that leads us back to opposition or we can unite our party, beat (Reform UK leader Nigel) Farage and tackle child poverty.
“I urge members to reject the path back to opposition and unite behind me to smash child poverty.”
Watch my latest video on why I need your mandate to be the strong Deputy Leader you want. pic.twitter.com/J0c7N6RD00
— Lucy Powell MP (@LucyMPowell) October 18, 2025
Ms Powell, who throughout the contest has been considered the favourite among the Labour membership, reminded the party that the race is not a foregone conclusion.
Speaking of the Labour members she met on the campaign trail, the Manchester Central MP said: “More and more are supporting me because they want a strong, independent voice at the top, they want us to change how we operate to include broader views and listen to our communities, and they want to see a much stronger sense of what we believe in and what the purpose of the Labour Government is.”
Ms Powell issued a stark warning about the political landscape: “It is the fight of our lives. There is no sugarcoating the position we are in and that’s why we need to change and we need to step up.
“We need to seize back the political megaphone, set the agenda, spell out whose side we are on and how we are fixing the deep-seated inequalities that blight our country.
“To do this requires a cultural reset, moving away from group-think and back in service of our communities and broad voter coalition. Recognising we are losing support all ways.”
She added: “This could be the last chance before the next election for members to have their say. I say today, make sure you use it and give me the mandate I need to make the changes you want.”
The two candidates had earlier traded blows over anonymous briefings and underhand tactics in the contest.
Ms Powell told Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast that her rival’s camp had been directly responsible for briefings against her.
That was after she was asked about a Labour source quoted in the New Statesman magazine, who suggested she was sacked from her role as leader of the House of Commons as she had “fundamentally lost the trust of colleagues” as a result of briefing and leaking.
Speaking to the same podcast, Ms Phillipson said the campaign had been “well-fought”, and that it had also been claimed she was holding back on publishing guidelines about trans people for fear it could harm her place in the race.
Such suggestions were “entirely false”, she said.
