All articles written by Lucy Powell MP on PoliticsHome.com

19 Aug Education

University funding is unfinished business for Labour

Andy Burnham has entered Downing Street with a long list of promises – delivering regional growth, shifting power beyond Westminster, creating a joined-up skills system and equipping public services for the future.

03 Mar Political parties

Labour Deputy Leader Opposed By-Election Attack On Green Drug Policy

Lucy Powell was among the Labour figures privately concerned about attacking the Greens' drug policy during the Gorton and Denton by-election campaign, PoliticsHome understands.

28 Sep 2025 Health

Labour Voters Want New Deputy Leader To Focus On Fixing Public Services

Labour voters want the party's new deputy leader to focus on fixing public services more than anything else, according to polling shared with PoliticsHome.

27 Sep 2025 Political parties

I’d be a full-time deputy leader – and I wouldn’t be afraid to tell it like it is

I was at home in Manchester at one of my kids’ parents’ evenings when I heard that I’d been nominated by enough MPs to cross the first hurdle in the election for deputy leader of the Labour Party.

23 Sep 2025 Political parties

Phillipson vs Powell: The Running List Of Endorsements In Labour's Deputy Leadership Contest

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and former Commons leader Lucy Powell are offering different visions for the Labour Party in their bids for deputy leader.

17 Sep 2025 Political parties

East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward Endorses Bridget Phillipson For Labour Deputy Leader

Exclusive: East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward has endorsed No 10’s favoured candidate Bridget Phillipson as Labour deputy leader, arguing that the party does not need “internal warfare”.

11 Sep 2025 Political parties

Bridget Phillipson Or Lucy Powell Will Be Next Labour Deputy Leader

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and former Commons leader Lucy Powell will go head-to-head to replace Angela Rayner as Labour's deputy leader.

11 Sep 2025 Political parties

Emily Thornberry Withdraws From Labour Deputy Leadership Race

Emily Thornberry has pulled out of the contest to succeed Angela Rayner as deputy leader of the Labour Party.

10 Sep 2025 Political parties

Red Wall Group Backs Northern Woman For Deputy Labour Leadership

The Red Wall Group of Labour MPs has called for a northern woman to be the party's new deputy leader.

30 Jun 2025 Parliament

Commons Leader Lucy Powell: "We Have To Ask Which Traditions Serve A Purpose In The Modern Age"

She arrived promising to drag Parliament into the modern age. A year in, Lucy Powell tells Noah Vickers she wants to widen participation and ditch arcane language

20 May 2025 Environment

The government must stop dragging its heels on urgent environmental issues

From tackling illegal deforestation in UK supply chains, to conserving our wild peat bogs and the biodiversity of our oceans, Labour must act now to protect our natural world

05 Nov 2024 Parliament

Parliament now looks a lot more like the country it represents - let's make the most of it

We didn’t just return an overwhelming majority at the election; we returned a very different type of parliament.

05 Oct 2024 Parliament

Don’t Rush To Pass Bills And Make More Shoddy Laws, Labour Warned

As the new Labour Government prepares to launch its legislative agenda, a leading left-leaning think tank is warning ministers to slow down passing new bills or risk putting more bad laws on the statute book.

01 Sep 2022 Culture

Government Accused Of "Squandering" Money On "Catastrophic" Project Dubbed "Festival Of Brexit"

Exclusive: The government has been accused of having “squandered” £120m on an arts project dubbed the “Festival of Brexit” and told to “learn lessons” from the widely criticised venture.

18 Jul 2022 Political parties

Senior Labour MP Says "Super Wealthy" Tory Leadership Contenders Don't Get Cost of Living Crisis

Exclusive: Labour shadow cabinet member Lucy Powell has said “super wealthy” Tory leadership candidates cannot understand people’s concerns over cost of living as they lead “very well-off” lives.

18 Jul 2022 Culture

Lucy Powell interview: 'The Tories were found to be on the wrong side of modern Britain'

Amid a Tory leadership race and a great British summer of sport, shadow digital, culture, media and sport secretary Lucy Powell talks to Sienna Rodgers about politics and play

05 Jan 2022 Social affairs

Commonwealth Games Isn't Ruling Out Mandatory Vaccines For Athletes

The Commonwealth Games has not ruled out introducing a mandatory vaccination policy for athletes participating in the event in Birmingham this summer.

20 Oct 2021 Communities

Labour Warns Renters Could Be Hit By Higher Fuel Bills With Green Home Plans

A focus on homeowners in the government's new heat pump plan could mean that renters could "bear the brunt" of green housing policies, Labour has warned.

21 Apr 2021 Communities

"Justice Has Been Done" After Derek Chauvin Found Guilty Of George Floyd Murder, Culture Secretary Says

The culture secretary Oliver Dowden has welcomed the conviction of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, saying "justice has been done".

11 Jan 2021 Coronavirus

Labour Analysis Shows Hospitality Businesses Will Get Less Financial Support Than In The First Lockdown

Five out of six hospitality businesses will miss out on the largest £9,000 grants to help them get thought the latest lockdown, analysis by the Labour party suggests.

07 Jan 2021 Coronavirus

Business needs support that goes hand in hand with new restrictions, not sticking-plaster solutions

Businesses are hanging on by their fingertips. We need a proper framework to protect jobs and businesses through this national lockdown and put Britain back on the path to recovery.

22 Nov 2020 Coronavirus

England's Second National Lockdown Will End On December 2

England's second national lockdown will end in 10 days, ministers have confirmed, but a stricter 'tier' system of restrictions will be introduced.

28 Aug 2020 Coronavirus

Boris Johnson prepares major back-to-work push as Labour say ministers ‘threatening people during a pandemic’

Boris Johnson is preparing a major push to get Britain back in the office from next week.

12 Jul 2020 Coronavirus

Labour backs mandatory face masks in England’s shops to ‘get confidence back into the system’

Labour would back making it compulsory for people to wear face masks in shops in England, frontbencher Lucy Powell has said.

19 Jun 2020 Brexit

Labour: Changing leader or Brexit stance will not be enough to come back from 2019 election drubbing, review warns

Ditching Jeremy Corbyn as leader or shifting the party’s position on Brexit will not be enough to recover from Labour’s worst election defeat since 1935, a detailed post-mortem has concluded.

09 Jun 2020 Coronavirus

Insolvency changes today must not store up problems for tomorrow

The reforms in the Insolvency Bill are only a small part of the rescue and recovery package that businesses need to come through the pandemic.

14 May 2020 Coronavirus

"This is not 'survival of the fittest" – MPs split over ‘premature’ return to Parliament

The leader of the Commons has announced that virtual proceedings will end later this month – much sooner than many MPs expected. For some Members, a return to Westminster is a welcome sign that the country is re-opening. But others say it will be impossible to return safely – and fear the move will leave them, and their constituents, disenfranchised

23 Apr 2020 Coronavirus

Commons Diary: Lucy Powell

Technical glitches, zoom meetings and virtual PMQs; Lucy Powell adjusts to the new reality for Members of Parliament.

25 Mar 2020 Coronavirus

Boris Johnson urged to consider unity government to tackle coronavirus crisis

Boris Johnson may have to form a national unity government with Labour if the coronavirus crisis worsens, according to a Conservative former minister.

10 Feb 2020 Education

Universities are failing the access challenge and students from poorer areas are missing out

Systemic change is needed to broaden the pool of applicants so those from disadvantaged backgrounds can flourish in higher education, writes Lucy Powell MP

14 Oct 2019 Education

We must break the stranglehold private schools have on social mobility

Money shouldn’t buy you an easier route to top jobs. Redressing the balance between private and public education will drive opportunity for all, writes Lucy Powell MP

16 Aug 2019 Home affairs

As Labour’s first woman MP for Manchester I stand on the shoulders of all those who protested at Peterloo

On the 200-year anniversary of the Peterloo massacre Labour and Cooperative Member of Parliament for Manchester Central Lucy Powell MP reflects on the modern challenges to democracy.

01 Feb 2019 Brexit

Purists will never back a deal. Pragmatists should unite around Common Market 2.0

While the Prime Minister is on a wild goose chase, MPs are working together cross-party to find a compromise that can unite parliament and the country, writes Lucy Powell

18 Jan 2018 Home affairs

Parliament must make its views known on Joint Enterprise ‘injustice’

The Supreme Court said that the law had taken a wrong turn, but nothing has changed. MPs now want to have their say, writes Lucy Powell

11 Jul 2017 Education

Putting social mobility at the heart of government policy means grammar schools need to change

Ahead of her debate on Government policies on social mobility, Lucy Powell MP writes for PoliticsHome saying, "measures to tackle genuine social mobility would find welcome agreement across the House of Commons."

21 Apr 2015

Tory obsession with the SNP shows their campaign is falling apart

Vice-Chair of Labour's General Election Campaign Lucy Powell writes: "The Tories have spent days talking up the SNP because they cannot defend their record and are losing the argument about the future of our country."