Lucy Powell Urges Labour to Reunite the Progressive Coalition to Secure Electoral Victory

Labour must reunite the progressive voter coalition if it wishes to capitalize on the division on the right and secure victory in the upcoming election, the party’s deputy leader has stated.

Lucy Powell, who secured the deputy leadership race twelve months ago by warning that Labour was losing its voice as Reform UK surged, believes the government now has a second opportunity under Andy Burnham.

In an interview with the Guardian, Powell argued that the party clearly needed a change of leadership to revive its fortunes and tell a more compelling story, after becoming overly technical and pessimistic.

Labour’s improved poll ratings have sparked speculation this week that Andy Burnham might call a snap election, though the prime minister rejected this on Friday, stating the next contest would occur in 2029.

However, the Labour conference is set to begin this weekend, with polls showing for the first time in nearly two years that Labour might be within striking distance of winning a majority at the next election—twelve months after surveys suggested Reform UK could achieve a massive victory.

Powell stated that Labour is beginning to be heard again and should not feel embarrassed to clearly display its values.

“If you examine the evidence from recent elections across the board, it is clear that whichever party unites its voter coalition wins. For us on the left, this means bringing our centre-left bloc back together,” she said. She added that this “includes some who have considered Reform as they have lost faith in the status quo.”

She noted that Labour would bring progressive voters who have shifted to the Greens, SNP, or Plaid Cymru back to trusting Labour in the coming months and years, as they had not always viewed Labour as the best chance to defeat right-wing politics. “I have always believed there is a clear majority in this country who did not want the politics of Reform and that divisive blaming of others—they disliked it,” she said.

“The challenge has been that this sentiment has not fully shifted to Labour, leaving the progressive coalition extremely fragmented. Part of our task and challenge is to reunite that progressive alliance and voter coalition.”

“I believe we can. We are seeing red shoots of hope. There are many more choices for people regarding political parties… but the task is to rise above that and become the leaders of progressive change.”

Ahead of her conference speech, the education secretary stated she would use her new role to announce an expansion of anti-harassment work in schools, having called during her deputy leadership race for Labour to be more explicitly progressive, particularly by calling out racism and misogyny.

She will argue that schools must go further than the strategy announced earlier this year to tackle misogyny, where students will learn about deepfakes, image-based abuse, and online harassment.

Powell stated that schools would be required to “embed healthy relationships and belonging into every part of school life, not just RSHE [relationships, sex and health education] lessons” and demonstrate that they are helping to create real-world, authentic communities.

“We simply cannot teach our way out of misogyny,” she said. “Schools with strengthened RSHE teaching but no wider culture shift will not change attitudes.”

She stated that Labour is now “on the front foot” and the party will speak more boldly about choices such as workers’ rights and free childcare hours.

“Let us not be embarrassed about that; that is what we are,” she said. “We lift children out of poverty, and we take the difficult decisions to do so. I think at times we have worried too much about the reaction rather than simply being clear about why we are doing this.”

“There was a strong desire for clearer political communication—of purpose, of story, of values. Andy knew that was what was needed. That was what the moment required,” she said.

Powell stated it would be obvious under Burnham what Labour’s values are, suggesting he would not make the same missteps on issues like welfare.

“If we are not against pensioner poverty, and we are not addressing it, and we are not supporting people who need the safety net, then what are we for?” She added that the government under Starmer had “lost sight of some of the politics and the purpose” once they came into power.

“We must be clear-sighted about what we are doing, who we are doing it for, and clearly articulate that every single day.”

“It is really encouraging to see that people are coming back. Andy has shown that we can win in places like Makerfield against Reform, and in some key council byelections we previously lost to the Greens in May.”

Powell declined to directly agree with the chancellor, John Healey, that Burnham’s government was offering “continuity.” “We are on the same manifesto, but I believe people want change. We have to seize that opportunity of a second hearing to really drive home the Labour story and the underpinning of why we are doing what we are doing.”

Powell stated she wanted to use the social media ban for under-16s as a moment to consider how to help young people build real-life communities that would replace the online world “so that people aren’t just accessing all their content and thoughts from social media… We have ended up in a highly connected world where isolation has actually become a bigger feature.”

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