Lucy Powell has told the New Statesman her deputy leadership campaign is already pushing Labour further to the left… and “long may that continue“. Brace for impact because she is now practically a shoo-in to win…
Powell’s evidence for this is the government’s inevitable turn towards lifting the two-child benefit cap. Asks if she takes credit for the policy shift, Powell said:
“I do, I do actually… What the last few weeks have shown is that when members’ voices count for something, we shift policy a bit. And long may that continue.”
She has also bitten back at her campaign opponent Bridget Phillipson’s insistence that a Powell victory would lead to “more distractions, infighting and noise“:
“I honestly think it’s just absurd. Firstly, I’m not that kind of person, and that’s not how I have behaved at all. I could have come out swinging three weeks ago last Friday; I absolutely have not. I think it’s quite offensive to members, to be honest.”
Asked to define her ideological identity, the best Powell could offer was “Manchester-ism“. Though any suggestion her campaign is a helpful proxy for another well-known Labour politician from that area is dismissed as “sexism”…
