Category Archives: Lucy Powell

Exclusive: Labour War Of Words As Phillipson And Powell Clash Over 2-Child Benefit Cap

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A fresh war of words has erupted in the Labour deputy leadership race over moves to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson took a swipe at her rival Lucy Powell as she urged Rachel Reeves to scrap the hated Tory policy.

HuffPost UK revealed last month that Keir Starmer has already decided to scrap the cap, with the chancellor preparing to announce it when she delivers her Budget on November 26.

Phillipson said that she, rather than Powell, had been leading moves inside government to tackle child poverty.

On Sky News, Phillipson repeatedly stressed that she could put pressure on the chancellor to scrap the benefit cap from inside government – a clear reference to the fact that Powell is no longer in the cabinet after being sacked as Commons leader last month.

She said: “There’s an urgency to this. With every year that passes more children are moving to poverty because of the two-child limit.

“It was a Tory policy. We would not have introduced it. I’m clear what needs to happen. I’ll be in Cabinet arguing for that, and that’s why I’ve made tackling child poverty my number one priority during this campaign.”

Presenter Trevor Phillips asked her: “Do you seriously believe Lucy Powell wouldn’t do all she could to end child poverty?”

Phillipson replied: “I’ve got a track record on actually taking action to lift children out of poverty. It’s been a longstanding cause of mine.”

In another jibe at Powell, Phillipson said: “I want to build on the record of people like Angela Rayner and John Prescott, who were in government, running big government departments, but as the members’ voice at the cabinet table. I think that would give me extra clout.”

But an ally of Powell told HuffPost UK: “Lucy has made the running on this. Scrapping the two child benefit cap wouldn’t have been discussed in the contest if Lucy hadn’t put it squarely at the centre of her campaign.

“It’s well documented that she spoke up about the welfare changes because of the impact on child poverty.”

The clash is further evidence of how the battle to be Labour’s deputy leader has grown increasingly bitter.

In a post on X last week accusing Powell of splitting the party, Phillipson said: “Back me to end child poverty or take us back to our divided past”.

Meanwhile, a Labour source told the New Statesman: “Lucy was sacked from Cabinet because she couldn’t be trusted not to brief or leak. She findamentally lost the trust of colleagues.”

Powell has insisted she will be the Labour members’ voice at the top of the party if she becomes deputy leader.

Ballots close in the contest on October 23, with the winner being announced two days later.

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Here’s Why Lucy Powell’s Comments On Grooming Gangs Really Matter

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Timing, as in good comedy, is vital in politics.

That’s why Lucy Powell’s comments on Friday night about the child grooming gangs scandal really matter.

The House of Commons leader lost her composure during an appearance on Radio Four’s political debate programme Any Questions.

It came after Reform UK campaigner Tim Montgomerie mentioned a Channel 4 documentary on the abduction and rape of vulnerable young girls by groups of men of mainly British-Pakistani backgrounds.

Powell interrupted to say: “Oh we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out shall we, yeah?”

It didn’t take long for her comments to provoke a backlash on social media, with Reform and the Tories both piling in as well.

A spokesman for Nigel Farage’s party said: “Lucy Powell’s abhorrent comments truly demonstrate how out of touch the Labour Party is.”

Of course, Powell’s remarks – for which she later issued an apology of sorts – would have ignited a fierce political row regardless of when she said them.

Labour has been heavily criticised for rejecting calls for a national inquiry into the scandal, preferring instead to promote investigations at a local authority level.

But it was the fact that her outburst came just hours after Reform UK – which has campaigned heavily on the issue – had won the local elections in England that made them so politically toxic for Labour.

As well as taking hundreds of council seats off the Tories, the right-wing party also showed that they can pull off stunning victories in traditional Labour areas like Durham and Doncaster.

With Reform also breathing down Labour’s neck in many of the areas where the grooming scandal took place, Powell’s words could almost have been deliberately chosen to cause maximum reputational damage to her party.

No wonder one senior figure in No.10 called them “appalling”.

According to The Sunday Times, education secretary Bridget Phillipson will be sacked at the next cabinet reshuffle, with Lisa Nandy also facing the axe along with her Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Senior Labour figures are now openly speculating that Powell’s neck is also on the chopping block.

“She shouldn’t be allowed on broadcast,” one told HuffPost UK, while another said: “What a car crash.”

For now at least, Downing Street appears to be backing Powell to ride out the storm.

Health secretary Wes Streeting offered up a stout defence of her on the broadcast round this morning, saying: “We all make mistakes. I’ve made mistakes in the past, I’m sure I’ll make mistakes in the future.

“The important thing is when we make mistakes, we own it, we apologise. That’s exactly what Lucy has done.”

But it would not be a surprise if, come the reshuffle, Powell finds herself on the backbenches.

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Cabinet Minister Effortlessly Bats Back Tory Frontbencher’s Budget Complaints With 1 Key Answer

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A Labour cabinet minister skewered a Tory MP this morning when he tried to lay into the party’s Budget by reminding him of his own role in the last government.

Rachel Reeves announced she was hiking National Insurance contributions for employers in last month’s Budget as part of efforts to fill the £22bn black hole Labour says the Tories left behind in the public finances.

Shadow Commons leader Jesse Norman tried to slam Labour’s decisions today, noting there had been “no compensation whatsoever has been offered for this tax raid”.

He then bizarrely claimed the “desolate, chaotic landscape with wreckage strewn everywhere” of the film franchise Mad Max is the “perfect metaphor for the government’s recent Budget”.

But the government’s Commons leader, Lucy Powell, did not accept his criticisms.

She said: “Mr Speaker I know that the shadow leader is fairly new to opposition, like most of his colleagues, but I might gently say to him that the idea of opposition is to oppose the government not his own record and his own previous government.”

Norman held several ministerial roles in the last government, including in the Treasury under both Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

Powell continued: “When I checked the records Mr Speaker, I did notice that when his government raised NICs [in 2021], not just on businesses, but on workers as well, he was actually the financial secretary to the Treasury.

“When he defended the measure at this very despatch box, Mr Speaker, and I quote, he said it was a ‘profoundly Conservative thing to do’.

“So, he seemed to be for it then and against it now. I’m not quite sure what his position is, I’m quite confused about that.”

Labour have been reminding any Tories who held a ministerial role in the last government of their past whenever they have tried to land a blow on their new policies.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband mocked Tory frontbencher Claire Coutinho on Tuesday by telling her “the job of opposition is to oppose the government, not yourself” after she tried to criticise Labour’s carbon emissions targets.

And earlier this month, deputy PM Angela Rayner dismantled Alex Burghart when he tried to criticise the government after inflation crept up from 1.7% to 2.3% in October.

She replied: “Many people might not know that the honourable member was the minister for growth when under Liz Truss, inflation was 11.1% and growth flatlined. So we’re doing much better than he did!”

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‘Punish Him’: Labour Urged To Suspend Landlord MP Over Mould And Ant-Infested Flats

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Labour has been urged to suspend an MP forced to apologise over mould and ant infestations in flats he rents out.

Jas Athwal said he was “profoundly sorry that tenants have been let down”.

The BBC first reported on the state of properties the Ilford South MP rents out.

One resident said: “The ants are everywhere. They are on my kid’s body and on their clothes.”

Athwal, who became a Labour MP at the last election and rents out 15 flats, was previously leader of Redbridge Borough Council, said he was “shocked” by the BBC’s findings.

In a statement, he said: “I know it’s my responsibility to have issues addressed as soon as they arise and have met the property management company to understand failures in communication.

“I’m profoundly sorry that tenants have been let down and will be reviewing the property management and how matters are escalated going forward.”

On LBC this morning, Commons leader Lucy Powell refused to be drawn on whether Athwal would lose the Labour whip over the controversy.

She also insisted Labour would bring forward legislation to improve protections for tenants.

Presenter Lewis Goodall said: ”[Athwal] was literally on the council and introduced a set of standards that all buy-to-let landlords in his council had to obey and he himself did not obey it.

“Now do you not think that is the height of hypocrisy? If this were the Conservative Party you would be slamming this guy, and yet here you are saying ‘it’s not a huge deal, he’s going to compensate them, we’re just going on as normal’.

“Don’t you think it would send a message to buy-to-let landlords who are ripping people off that you the Labour Party do not tolerate standards like this, not least from your own MPs?”

Powell: “I’m certainly not saying it’s OK and I’ve just made absolutely clear we don’t tolerate standards like this.”

The presenter then interrupted the minister to say: “Punish him then.”

But she replied: “Hold on a minute. That’s why we’re legislating with tough measures to tackle these issues, to give tenants those rights, so they don’t have to go to the BBC or anyone else, whether it’s a Labour MP or any other landlord.

“They will have real rights embedded in law … to back that law. It is not absolutely not OK. What I am saying is that this particular person in questions has taken quick action. He was furious about it. I will take him at his word for now, but he has to put that right.”

A Redbridge Council spokesperson said: “The selective landlord licensing schemes are in place across several wards. These schemes extend licensing to all privately rented properties occupied by a single household or two unrelated sharers, ensuring a fair and consistent process for all.

“We are aware of the situation with these properties. While we cannot comment on individual cases, it is important to stress that the council is committed to a fair and consistent process for every landlord applying to the selective licensing scheme.

“We notify all existing landlords that they may need to renew their licences and systematically work through those that need to be renewed. This approach applies to all borough landlords needing a licence, ensuring all parties are treated equally.

“In all cases, we expect properties that require a licence to apply for it. Where they do not have a licence, we will send notices and commence enforcement action.

“It is important that all landlords apply for their licences. This is about maintaining the standards of our selective licensing scheme and ensuring the safety and well-being of people in Redbridge.”

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Winter Fuel Payments For Pensioners Were Cut To Prevent Economy Crashing, Minister Says

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Winter fuel payments were ended for millions of pensioners to prevent the economy from crashing, a minister has claimed.

Commons leader Lucy Powell suggested there could even have been a run on the pound unless Labour had cut day-to-day government spending.

Her comments come amid a growing backlash to chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to end winter fuel payments for all but the very poorest pensioners.

An estimated 10 million old people will lose out on payments of up to £300 a year as a result of the controversial decision.

On Sky News this morning, presenter Trevor Phillips asked Powell: “When the prime minister said this week ‘those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heaviest burden’, was he talking about the 10 million pensioners who will lose [winter fuel payments]?”

Powell told him: “Well this is an example of one of the very difficult decisions that we’ve had to make that we didn’t want to make, that we weren’t wanting to do when we got elected.”

After Phillips told her “you didn’t have to make it”, the minister replied: “It is really important for people to understand the context.

“What we found was that spending was much higher in the current year that we are in than anybody had thought.

“There was a black hole of £22 billion that was made up of things like nearly £7 billion of underfunding of the asylum system, that the previous government knew was there and they put their head in the sand and didn’t take the difficult decisions they needed to take because they knew they were going to lose the election.

“That’s why we’ve had to take some of these really difficult decisions around means testing the winter payments so that the poorest pensioners continue to receive it, but some of the wealthiest pensioners won’t.”

But Phillips replied: “You are now the government, you made a choice, and the first choice you’ve made was to withdraw the allowance from pensioners, in the same way that you’ve chosen to hand out pay increases way above inflation while you’ve been telling others with three children that you’ll have to wait until you’ve found the money to lift the benefit cap. These are your choices.”

Powell replied: “Finding in-year savings in the current year is very difficult indeed.

“If we didn’t, we would have seen the markets losing confidence, potentially a run on the pound, the economy crashing and the people who pay the heaviest price for that when the economy crashes is the poorest in society, and people like pensioners.”

Shadow Treasury chief secretary Laura Trott said: “This simply shows how desperate the new Labour government is to run from responsibility for the tax rises they always planned but hid from the public during the election.

“After handing billions in inflation-busting pay rises to their union paymasters, no-one believes Labour’s chicken little strategy.

“They should stop trying to deceive the public with ridiculous fantasies and instead have the courage to let parliament debate cuts to winter fuel payments for the sake of those pensioners who will lose out thanks to the decisions of this government.”

Both the Tories and Lib Dems are planning to force a Commons vote on the removal of winter fuel payments to all but those who claim pensioner credit.

Some Labour MPs are threatening to rebel by voting with the opposition in protest at the chancellor’s decision.

The government is launching a campaign urging those who do not claim the £3,900 benefit but are entitled to it to do so.

The average pension credit is £75 a week, but it is estimated that 880,000 who qualify for it do not claim it.

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Labour Backs Laughing Gas Ban To Tackle Anti-Social Behaviour

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Labour has backed the government’s proposed ban on the sale of laughing gas, saying it is a “blight” on communities.

Nitrous oxide will be banned under plans to tackle anti-social behaviour, Michael Gove announced on Sunday.

Senior Labour MP Lucy Powell agreed with the proposal and called for enforcement.

The shadow culture secretary told Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “I think we want to see it banned as well because I think it does cause a huge amount of littering, of disruption and of antisocial behaviour challenges as well.

“We do need to tackle at source these kind of crimes – well sometimes they’re not crimes – these kind of behaviours that are blights on our communities.

“It’s something when I go door knocking in my constituency in Manchester Central and I go out meeting residents – anti-social behaviour is probably the number one issue that they raise with me.”

Gove told the BBC nitrous oxide can have a “damaging effect on young brains” and its public use can lead to “greater lawlessness”.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) recently advised against new laws to ban nitrous oxide.

Nitrous oxide, sold in metal canisters, is known as NOS and is the second most-used drug by UK 16 to 24-year-olds.

Confirming the ban on laughing gas, Gove told Sky: “I think anyone who has the opportunity to walk through our parks in our major cities will have seen these little silver canisters, which are examples of people not only spoiling public spaces but taking a drug which can have a psychological and neurological effect and one that contributes to antisocial behaviour overall.”

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‘Cultural Vandalism’: Government Condemned As Channel 4 To Be Privatised

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The government’s decision to press ahead with plans to privatise Channel 4 has been condemned as “very unconservative” by a senior Tory MP.

The channel was launched in 1982 as a publicly-owned, commercially-funded public service broadcaster with a remit to deliver content to under-served audiences.

It does not receive public funding but is ultimately owned by the government, with all money going back into the broadcaster, which commissions all of its programmes from independent producers.

On Monday, a statement by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said the sell-off would allow the channel to “thrive in the face of a rapidly-changing media landscape” while a government source said the move would “remove Channel 4’s straitjacket”.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said it was “disappointed” with the decision, but would “continue to engage” with ministers on the process to “ensure that Channel 4 continues to play its unique part in Britain’s creative ecology and national life”.

The move represents Boris Johnson’s government’s latest broadcasting shake-up after signalling it wants to find a new funding model for the BBC after the licence fee funding deal expires in 2027. Ministers have previously indicated Channel 4 could be sold off by the end of the current parliament in 2024.

The announcement faced an immediate backlash, with Labour calling it a “shameful decision” and even Conservative MPs joining the criticism.

Damian Green, Tory MP and a former Cabinet minister, said: “The sale of Channel 4 is politicians and civil servants thinking they know more about how to run a business than the people who run it. Very unconservative. Mrs Thatcher, who created it, never made that mistake.”

Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley said he opposes the privatisation as he feels it is “bad for the diversity of television, bad for viewers and bad for independent producers”.

Labour’s shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell described the move as “cultural vandalism”.

She said: “Selling off Channel 4, which doesn’t cost the tax-payer a penny anyway, to what is likely to be a foreign company, is cultural vandalism. It will cost jobs and opportunities in the North and Yorkshire, and hit the wider British creative economy.

“This shows that the Conservatives have run out of ideas and run out of road. Of all the issues the public wants action on, the governance of Channel 4 isn’t one.”

No price tag has been set by the government yet, but reports suggest the channel could be sold for as much as £1 billion in a process that could take several months, with the proposals needing to pass through both the House of Commons and Lords.

The government has been consulting on plans to privatise the broadcaster following concerns for its survival in the streaming era.

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries said in a tweet that she wanted the broadcaster to remain a “cherished place in British life”, but felt that government ownership was “holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon”.

She added: “I will seek to reinvest the proceeds of the sale into levelling up the creative sector, putting money into independent production and creative skills in priority parts of the country – delivering a creative dividend for all.”

Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon has previously questioned the “logic” behind such a move and whether privatising the broadcaster would help with efforts to “level up” outside of London.

In an internal email to staff on Monday, Mahon said her priority was to “look after all of you and the wonderful Channel 4 spirit” following the announcement.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “With over 60,000 submissions to the government’s public consultation, it is disappointing that today’s announcement has been made without formally recognising the significant public interest concerns which have been raised.

“Channel 4 has engaged in good faith with the government throughout the consultation process, demonstrating how it can continue to commission much-loved programmes from the independent sector across the UK that represent and celebrate every aspect of British life as well as increase its contribution to society, while maintaining ownership by the public.

“Recently, Channel 4 presented DCMS (the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) a real alternative to privatisation that would safeguard its future financial stability, allowing it to do significantly more for the British public, the creative industries and the economy, particularly outside London.

“This is particularly important given that the organisation is only two years into a significant commitment to drive up its impact in the UK’s nations and regions.”

The statement continued: “Channel 4 remains legally committed to its unique public service remit. The focus for the organisation will be on how we can ensure we deliver the remit to both our viewers and the British creative economy across the whole of the UK.

“The proposal to privatise Channel 4 will require a lengthy legislative process and political debate. We will of course continue to engage with DCMS, government and parliament, and do everything we can to ensure that Channel 4 continues to play its unique part in Britain’s creative ecology and national life.”

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University Of Oxford Made Me Feel ‘Totally Thick’ Says Labour MP

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JUSTIN TALLIS via Getty Images

Shadow secretary of state for sousing Lucy Powell 

A Labour MP has revealed she dropped out of the University of Oxford after a year because it left her feeling “totally thick”. 

Shadow housing secretary Lucy Powell described herself as a “fish out of water” when she went to study Chemistry at the elite university nearly 30 years ago.

Powell told Gloria De Piero on GB News she was studying maths, physics and chemistry at her state sixth form when a teacher picked her out and said she should apply to Oxbridge. 

Powell said: “I went down for my interviews and I phoned my mum up just crying because I hated it so much. 

“It was just so awful. But then I got in, I got an offer. I cried when I got the offer, I didn’t want to go at all. 

“But what do you do? You get an offer from Oxford. You get into Oxford and everyone’s like oh that’s amazing. That’s great. 

“I just was like a fish out of water for most of it. I did make some really good friends there and I’m sort of glad I went to see how the other half live in a way. But I didn’t thrive there at all. So, I left after a year and then went to Kings.” 

Asked why she felt like a fish out of water, Powell replied: “I was a state educated, northern girl doing science. 

“It’s not an environment I was used to at all. I’d come from Hacienda Manchester.

“And I was sort of in Oxford with a load of books and there was no support. What I realised was everybody else had had a lot of coaching, a lot of extra tuition, a lot of support. 

“There was no teaching really, it’s just like here’s an exercise book get on with it. And so it just crushed my confidence immediately.”

Powell said she had gone from being picked out at her sixth form from two thousand children to “basically being made to feel like I was totally thick” and described the experience as “crushing”.

She added: “I sort of lost interest, I really struggled, I put on weight. Over that summer, after my first year when I came home, I just made the decision that I wasn’t going to succeed there and I hadn’t done very well.” 

Powell phoned around other universities and transferred straight into second year at King’s College in London. 

The MP for Manchester Central added: “Oxford and Cambridge are getting a bit better, but that was nearly 30 years ago. My experience, you don’t expect it to still be like that in 21st century Britain, do you? But I think unfortunately, it is still for too many.” 

Powell also revealed that she went clubbing at the age of 15 and used to go to the Hacienda nightclub that became famous during the “Madchester” years. 

She added: “I used to go clubbing on a school night and things I really shouldn’t have done that my parents really didn’t know I was doing.” 

But she also revealed that she never gets drunk now, adding: “I’ve become a lightweight and maybe I am a sort of control freak about it. 

“In my youth, as people who were at university or at school will testify, I was perfectly able to get completely paralytic drunk as lots of people were at that age. 

“But as I’ve got older, I don’t know when that kicked in, I’m very sensible I’m afraid. So I just have my two spritzers and that’s me done.”

The interview will be broadcast on GB News at midday on Thursday.

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