Voting opens for the Labour deputy leadership race on Wednesday
Labour Deputy leadership contender Lucy Powell has received the backing of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock and centre-left group Mainstream.
Kinnock said that Powell will ensure the Labour movement is “heard and heeded” if elected to replace Angela Rayner as deputy leader.
Voting for the contest between Education secretary Bridget Phillipson and Powell opens on Wednesday, and the results will be announced on 25 October.
In his endorsement, Lord Kinnock said: “I’ve known Lucy as a friend and comrade for over 20 years. She is totally Labour and embodies the basic truth that it is vital that the broad Labour movement is heard and heeded.
“Our sustained values of justice, equity and liberty offer the principled and practical policies that our country, our world, need.
“Lucy will insist upon that reality as an elected Deputy Leader who will give distinctive and reasoning support to our Government.”
Kinnock added that he has no doubt the former house of commons leader “will be an outstanding Deputy Leader in the best traditions of our Party”.
Over the weekend, Labour former Home Secretary Alan Johnson backed Phillipson to be the next Labour deputy leader.
Johnson said: “We need a deputy leader who will show voters how this Government will improve their lives, as well as tell a better story about Labour’s historic mission towards the abolition of poverty and greater equality.
“Already, in one of the most difficult cabinet roles, she has excelled and I back Bridget to bring together the coalition of voters currently drifting both left and right who could form the bedrock of the next Labour election victory.”
Mainstream, the new centre-left group set up by pressure groups Compass and Open Labour, has also endorsed Powell as its chosen deputy leader candidate.
In a ballot of Mainstream members, 82% voted to endorse Powell, 9% voted to make no endorsement and 8.7% backed Phillipson.
Luke Hurst, Mainstream’s National Coordinator, said: “Labour’s Mainstream has overwhelmingly backed Lucy Powell to be Labour’s next Deputy Leader in the very first exercise of democratic decision-making in our new network.
“Clearly, Lucy’s commitment to a more open Labour Party recommitted to its democratic socialist principles is resonating with the grassroots. And is it any wonder? Facing the threat of authoritarian populism, Labour members want our party to be bolder, brighter and broader.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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