1.30pm BST
Closing summary
This live blog will be closing shortly. Thank you for reading the updates. You can keep up to date with the Guardian’s UK and Ireland politics coverage here and here.
Here is a summary from today’s blog:
Lucy Powell has won Labour’s deputy leadership election, beating her rival Bridget Phillipson, as she said the party would not win by trying to “out-Reform Reform”. Powell, who was the Commons leader until she was sacked in Keir Starmer’s reshuffle at the start of September, was seen as the favourite throughout the contest. She won 87,407 votes, 54% of those cast, while Phillipson received 73,536. Turnout of eligible voters was 16.6%.
Her election as deputy leader marks the fourth time the Labour party has elected a woman to this position, after Margaret Beckett, Harriet Harman, and Angela Rayner.
The result was announced on Saturday morning after a vote that was widely seen as a referendum for Labour members on the direction of the party under Starmer. Phillipson, the education secretary, was seen as Downing Street’s preferred candidate.
Powell has insisted she wants to “help Keir [Starmer] and our government to succeed” but the party “must change how we are doing things to turn things around”. Speaking after the Labour deputy leadership results were announced, Powell said the party had to give a stronger sense of its purpose, values and beliefs.
Powell also said “that for too long, the country and the economy has worked in the interests of the few, not the many”. The Manchester Central MP said: “Because let’s be honest, we’ve let Farage and his ilk run away with it.” She also said Labour has to “offer hope” and “the big change the country is crying out for”. Powell described the desire for change as “palpable”.
Labour “must unite” said prime minister Keir Starmer after Powell was elected Labour’s new deputy leader. In his speech, he admitted that the past week, a bruising one for the party, had shown the urgency of the task. He added: “Renewal is the only answer to decline, to grievance and to division and we have to keep going on that.”
Starmer described the new deputy Labour leader as “a proud defender of Labour values”. The prime minister also touched upon British values and said the Labour party needs to come together to defend them as the party are “facing opponents who want to wage war against all that”.
At an event in Southwark in London after the official election result announcement, Powell said it was Labour’s job to stand together and see off “division, hate, disillusionment [and] “discontentment”. Powell told activists and Labour party supporters that she was “absolutely thrilled” to have been elected as the party’s new deputy leader.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said she would continue to be a “strong voice” at the cabinet table despite losing out to Powell in the deputy leadership contest. She said it was “crucial” for the party to “come together to take the fight to Reform in next year’s crucial Senedd, Holyrood and local elections”.
Former deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, congratulated Powell on her victory, describing her as “a powerful voice for our movement, our Labour party values, and the change the country needs”. The contest was triggered by Rayner’s resignation after she failed to pay the correct stamp duty on a property purchase.
“The country doesn’t have time for internal party feuds,” said Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper in comments responding to the news that Powell had been elected deputy leader of the Labour party.
“Powell’s election is a sign of the disillusionment of Labour members – but there is a much much bigger and more worrying sign. Turn out was just 16%”, wrote the Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, as she shared her reaction to Powell being elected as Labour’s new deputy leader.
Starmer and justice secretary David Lammy should take responsibility for the error which led to a former asylum seeker, who sexually assaulted a woman and a teenage girl, to be accidentally released from prison, Epping Forest’s Tory MP said on Saturday. Epping Forest MP Neil Hudson told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “This sounds like an operational error, but the buck has to stop somewhere, and it has to stop at the top, at the justice secretary, the home secretary and the prime minister.”
The influential Labour thinktank the Fabian Society is urging Rachel Reeves to raise £12bn in next month’s budget by extending the freeze on income tax thresholds for another two years. Joe Dromey, the Fabians’ general secretary, argues in a new report that the move is the “best available option” for the chancellor as she seeks to offset the impact of weaker economic forecasts in her 26 November statement.
The leftwing independent Catherine Connolly is on track to win Ireland’s presidential election, according to early vote tallies. Reports from tallymen – unofficial but usually reliable observers at count centres – gave Connolly a wide lead on Saturday soon after ballot boxes were opened at 9am.
Health secretary Wes Streeting has warned people not to buy weight loss jabs from unregulated sources after an illegal laboratory was dismantled. Officers from the Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) raided the factory in Northampton and seized unlicensed medication worth £250,000.
Updated at 1.33pm BST
12.52pm BST
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell said she had “stood firm” with victims of grooming gangs and wanted the promised inquiry established as soon as possible, reports the PA news agency.
Powell was forced to apologise in May after appearing to dismiss concerns about grooming gangs as a “dog whistle” issue.
Asked about her comments after her deputy leadership election victory, she told broadcasters:
I’m absolutely determined, I always have been, to make sure that those that were perpetrating grooming against vulnerable young girls and women they are found, they are charged, they are brought to justice, and all of those who turned a blind eye are also held to account for what they did.
I’ve stood firm with those victims throughout my career and I continue to do so today and I hope we get the inquiry up and running as soon as possible.
During a debate on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions in May, Reform UK supporter Tim Montgomerie asked Powell if she had seen a recent Channel 4 documentary on grooming gangs.
Powell responded “oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now do we” and “let’s get that dog whistle out shall we”. She subsequently said she was “challenging the political point scoring around it, not the issue itself” and was “sorry if this was unclear”.
12.38pm BST
Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the error which saw Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu released was a “big mistake”.
Former asylum seeker Kebatu was jailed for 12 months in September for sexual assault and made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order, but on Friday was released from prison in error.
Powell told broadcasters:
This is an operational matter and I’m sure the Ministry of Justice will be making their comments on that soon.
But obviously it’s a big mistake and we need to find him quickly and make sure that he’s deported, and that’s what we’ll be determined to do.
12.28pm BST
Health secretary Wes Streeting has warned people not to buy weight loss jabs from unregulated sources after an illegal laboratory was dismantled, reports the PA news agency.
Officers from the Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) raided the factory in Northampton and seized unlicensed medication worth £250,000.
An MHRA spokesperson said:
This is the first illicit production facility for weight loss medicine discovered in the UK and is believed to be the largest single seizure of trafficked weight loss medicines ever recorded by a law enforcement agency worldwide.
During the search, MHRA officers, supported by Northamptonshire police, seized tens of thousands of empty weight loss pens ready to be filled, raw chemical ingredients and more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens awaiting dispatch to customers.
The street value of the finished weight loss products alone is estimated to be more than a quarter of a million pounds.
The officers also found “sophisticated packaging and manufacturing equipment” as well as £20,000 in cash.
Streeting said:
This is a victory in the fight against the shameless criminals who are putting lives at risk by peddling dangerous and illegal weight loss jabs to make a quick buck.
These unregulated products, made with no regard for safety or quality, posed a major risk to unwitting customers.
My message is clear: don’t buy weight loss medications from unregulated sources. Talk to your GP, seek NHS advice, and don’t line the pockets of criminals who don’t care about your health.
Safe, appropriate, licensed obesity drugs can greatly benefit those in need if taken under medical supervision, and I urge people to only purchase and use them with the approval and oversight of medics and pharmacists.
Andy Morling, head of the MHRA’s criminal enforcement unit, said:
This seizure shows the lengths these criminals will go to for profit. People should be extremely cautious when buying medicines online.
Prescription medicines should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional.
Taking prescription medicines sourced in any other way carries serious risks to your health – there are no guarantees about what they contain, and some may even be contaminated with toxic substances.
Taking out the first illicit weight loss medicine manufacturing facility found in the UK is a landmark result for the MHRA and a major blow to the illegal trade. These products are untested, unauthorised and potentially deadly.
By taking this organised criminal network out of operation and stopping tens of thousands of potentially fatal products from entering circulation, we’ve prevented a serious risk to public health.
This is an illicit global market that endangers patients, puts big money in the pockets of organised criminals, and undermines legitimate healthcare.
This operation demonstrates, once again, that my officers will stop at nothing to identify, disrupt and dismantle the organised criminal networks who put profit before safety.
12.14pm BST
The influential Labour thinktank the Fabian Society is urging Rachel Reeves to raise £12bn in next month’s budget by extending the freeze on income tax thresholds for another two years.
Joe Dromey, the Fabians’ general secretary, argues in a new report that the move is the “best available option” for the chancellor as she seeks to offset the impact of weaker economic forecasts in her 26 November statement.
Reeves is expected to have to find £10bn to £30bn in annual tax increases or spending cuts to remain on track to meet her fiscal rules, after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) downgraded its projections for growth.
Dromey describes extending the threshold freeze as “an effective and progressive way to raise over half the funding that she needs, with most coming from wealthier households, and with relatively little political risk”.
Starting in 2022 as the UK recovered from the costs of the Covid pandemic, Rishi Sunak froze the thresholds at which workers move into a higher income tax band instead of increasing them each year in line with inflation.
Jeremy Hunt as chancellor extended that pause but it is set to end in 2027/28. Over that time, the OBR estimates that the freeze will have brought in an additional £45bn a year.
Extending it could be controversial as the number of people paying the 40% higher rate of income tax, which currently kicks in at £50,271, is already set to expand significantly.
Dromey acknowledges the downsides of the policy, including the fact opposition parties are likely to highlight Reeves’s argument in last year’s budget that maintaining the freeze would “hurt working people [and] take more money out of their payslips”.
But he argues it would be the progressive policy choice. “The chancellor recently said she wanted to ensure that those with the ‘broadest shoulders pay their fair share of tax’. Our modelling suggests that half (49%) of the revenue raised would come from the highest-earning fifth of households. Conversely, the poorest fifth of households would bear just 4% of the cost,” he writes.
Related: Raise £12bn in budget by extending income tax thresholds freeze, says thinktank
12.02pm BST
Former deputy Labour leader, Angela Rayner, has congratulated Lucy Powell on her victory. In a post on X, Rayner wrote:
Delighted for my friend, and brilliant colleague Lucy Powell.
She’ll be a powerful voice for our movement, our Labour party values, and the change the country needs.
The contest was triggered by Rayner’s resignation after she failed to pay the correct stamp duty on a property purchase.
11.55am BST
Leftwinger Catherine Connolly takes clear lead in Ireland’s presidential race
The leftwing independent Catherine Connolly is on track to win Ireland’s presidential election, according to early vote tallies.
Reports from tallymen – unofficial but usually reliable observers at count centres – gave Connolly a wide lead on Saturday soon after ballot boxes were opened at 9am.
Opinion polls had predicted a landslide for Connolly, 68, who captured the imagination of many younger people and was backed by an alliance of leftwing opposition parties in Friday’s election.
The presidency is a largely ceremonial office, but victory for Connolly, a member of parliament from Galway, would be a humbling rebuke to the centre-right government.
Her opponent, Heather Humphreys, 62, a former cabinet minister who ran for the Fine Gael party, was tainted by association with the unpopular ruling coalition.
Anger over a housing crisis and the cost of living, campaign blunders by Fine Gael and its ruling partner Fianna Fáil, rare unity among leftwing parties and deft use of social media combined to make Connolly a symbol of change.
Early tallies from Clare, Dublin, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Meath and Wexford gave Connolly a clear lead, in some cases beating Humphreys by a ratio of two-to-one. The result “looks incredibly positive” for Connolly, said Labour leader Ivana Bacik.
There were also indications of a low turnout and unusually high number of spoilt votes, reflecting widespread frustration at the choice on offer and lack of additional candidates on the ballot.
Related: Leftwinger Catherine Connolly takes clear lead in Ireland’s presidential race
11.47am BST
Powell added:
The country hasn’t worked for people for the last 14 years and we’re going about fixing that every single day.
And I wanted to be here in London today, because we’ve got these huge elections next May here in London, in Scotland, in Wales and right across the country, and I’m going to get to work today, from day one to make sure that we get these brilliant candidates [and] these brilliant councillors elected here in London so that they can continue to deliver that change here on the ground in London and right across the country.
Because, it’s [by] having Labour councillors, Labour MSPs, Labour Senate members, Labour representatives right round the country working with the Labour government that we can bring that transformational change that we promised people at the election [and] that I’m determined that we deliver. So, thank you all very much for coming today.
11.39am BST
Powell tells Labour party supporters that 'it's our job to stand together in face of division and hate'
Lucy Powell has told activists and Labour party supporters that she is “absolutely thrilled” to have been elected as the party’s new deputy leader.
At an event in Southwark in London, Powell said:
It really rests on our shoulders now as the Labour party [and] as the Labour government to prove that progressive, mainstream politics can really change people’s lives for the better, because we are facing these forces of division, of hate, of disillusionment, of discontentment.
And it’s our job to really see that off and stand together and to stand tall in the face of that division and that hate, and that is what I will do working alongside Keir [Starmer], Anna [Turley], the rest of the party and the Labour government, because I want to show people what this Labour government is really about. We are about changing people’s lives for the better.
Updated at 11.41am BST
11.25am BST
Newly elected deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell is to meet activists and party supporters in London alongside Labour party chair, Anna Turley.
You can follow along with the live stream now in the video below:
11.25am BST
The Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, has shared her reaction to Lucy Powell being elected as Labour’s new deputy leader:
Powell’s election is a sign of the disillusionment of Labour members – but there is a much much bigger and more worrying sign. Turn out was just 16%.
This is likely to be the case because a large number trade union levy payers – who also get a vote – are unlikely to have turned out to vote.
11.16am BST
Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the party had to give a stronger sense of its purpose, values and beliefs.
Powell won the deputy leadership contest with 54% of the vote, beating Bridget Phillipson, who took a 46% share.
You can listen to Powell’s speech from earlier in the video below:
11.06am BST
Here are some images coming in via the newswires from this morning:
Updated at 11.06am BST
10.58am BST
'Country doesn't have time for internal party feuds' say Lib Dems in response to Powell victory
Responding to the news that Lucy Powell has been elected deputy leader of the Labour party, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said:
The fact that media were not allowed in to this announcement says it all. Labour just doesn’t listen.
People are feeling frustrated and disappointed that the government has failed to deliver the change they promised, after years of Conservative chaos and neglect.
We need to see far more urgency and ambition. Instead of punishing policies like the jobs tax and family farm tax, we need a much bolder plan for growth and the cost of living, for repairing our relationship with Europe and for fixing the NHS and care.
That must be Labour’s focus. The country doesn’t have any time for internal party factions or feuds.
Updated at 10.58am BST
10.50am BST
Lucy Powell, who was the Commons leader until she was sacked in Keir Starmer’s reshuffle at the start of September, was seen as the favourite throughout Labour’s deputy leadership contest.
The result was announced on Saturday morning after a vote that was widely seen as a referendum for Labour members on the direction of the party under Starmer. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, was seen as Downing Street’s preferred candidate.
Both candidates called for the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, a policy that caused a parliamentary rebellion within weeks of Labour taking office and is largely unpopular with members.
The contest grew increasingly fractious over the last six weeks. Last weekend, Powell was described as “the Momentum candidate” and Phillipson gave an interview saying her rival would cost the party the election.
The vote was called after Angela Rayner resigned last month when she was found to have underpaid stamp duty on a house purchase in Brighton.
Unlike Rayner, Powell will not become deputy prime minister, with the position having already been given to David Lammy.
The result reflected polling which had suggested the MP for Manchester Central had a healthy lead as voting closed on Thursday.
She is seen as being closely associated with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who was accused of launching a leadership bid in all but name before the party’s conference last month.
During the campaign, Powell frequently referred to “mistakes” made by the party on issues such as the winter fuel allowance.
In a final message to supporters this week she appeared to criticise a “command and control” culture within government, arguing that “blindly following along” was “a dereliction of our duty to defeat the politics of hate and division”.
Related: Lucy Powell wins Labour deputy leadership election
10.43am BST
The Guardian’s political editor, Pippa Crerar, says that Lucy Powell’s election as Labour’s new deputy leader will be “widely interpreted as a sign of disillusionment among party members, after she pledged to be their voice to leadership”.
Crerar also highlighted the low turnout of 16.6%.
10.40am BST
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said she would continue to be a “strong voice” at the cabinet table despite losing out to Lucy Powell in the deputy leadership contest.
Phillipson said:
I want to congratulate Lucy on her victory in this contest.
It’s crucial that our party now comes together to take the fight to Reform in next year’s crucial Senedd, Holyrood and local elections.
I am obviously disappointed at today’s result but I’m proud of the campaign I’ve run. I want to thank everyone who voted for me in this contest. I feel privileged to have had the chance of meeting members across the country, talking about their priorities and what they want to see: a united party, talking about the good things this Labour government is doing, not fixating on our mistakes.
Regardless of today’s result, I will always be a strong voice for our members and trade unions at the cabinet table and I will still be that powerful campaigning presence at the top of government working to deliver a crucial second term of Labour government.
10.36am BST
Labour 'must unite' says Starmer as he admits past week has shown urgency of the task
The election of Lucy Powell as Labour deputy leader follows a bruising few days for Keir Starmer after the chaos in the grooming gangs inquiry, the return of a small boat migrant who was sent to France under the one in, one out deal, the error which saw Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu released from prison, and defeat for Labour in its Welsh stronghold of Caerphilly, reports the PA news agency.
Starmer said:
We must press ahead with the renewal that working people need to see.
Now, this week, we received another reminder of just how urgent that task is. A bad result in Wales, I accept that, but a reminder that people need to look out their window and see change and renewal in their community, opportunities for their children, public services rebuilt, the cost of living crisis tackled.
Renewal is the only answer to decline, to grievance and to division and we have to keep going on that. It is the offer we must make to the people of Scotland, Wales and England next year.
And that means we must come together. We must unite. We must keep our focus on what is, in my view, the defining battle for the soul of our nation.
Updated at 10.37am BST
10.32am BST
Powell: Country and economy has 'worked in the interests of the few, not the many' for 'too long'
Lucy Powell said Labour “won’t win by trying to out-Reform Reform” after being elected as the party’s new deputy leader.
Speaking after the results of the deputy leadership were announced, Powell said:
It starts with us wrestling back the political megaphone and setting the agenda more strongly.
Because let’s be honest, we’ve let Farage and his ilk run away with it. He wants to blame immigration for all the country’s problems.
We reject that. Our diagnosis is different: that for too long, the country and the economy has worked in the interests of the few, not the many.
The Manchester Central MP added:
We won’t win by trying to out-Reform Reform, but by building a broad progressive consensus.
10.29am BST
Starmer describes Powell as 'proud defender of Labour values' and urges party to come together to protect British values
As mentioned below, Keir Starmer described the new deputy Labour leader, Lucy Powell, as “a proud defender of Labour values”. The prime minister also touched upon British values and said the Labour party needs to come together to defend them.
He added:
We’re facing opponents who want to wage war against all that.
10.23am BST
Labour deputy leadership results breakdown
Here is a breakdown of the results:
Lucy Powell received 87,407 votes from the Labour party membership and affiliates.
Bridget Phillipson received 73,536 votes.
The number of eligible voters was 970,642 and a total of 160,993 votes were cast, resulting in a turnout of 16.6%.
Powell was first elected as the MP for Manchester Central in a byelection in 2012. Her election as deputy leader marks the fourth time the Labour party has elected a woman to this position, after Margaret Beckett, Harriet Harman, and Angela Rayner.
10.21am BST
Labour has to 'offer hope' and 'the big change the country is crying out for', says Powell
Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell said the party had to give a “stronger sense of our purpose” and our “values and beliefs”.
Powell won the Labour deputy leadership contest with 54% of the vote, beating Bridget Phillipson who took a 46% share.
The new deputy leader said:
We have to offer hope, to offer the big change the country is crying out for.
We must give a stronger sense of our purpose, whose side we are on and of our Labour values and beliefs.
She said that “people feel that this government is not being bold enough in delivering the kind of change we promised”.
Updated at 10.23am BST
10.19am BST
Powell says Labour 'must change how we are doing things'
Lucy Powell was sacked from Keir Starmer’s cabinet in September and has indicated she will refuse a return to a government role so she can speak more openly about the direction of the party in office.
She has insisted she wants to “help Keir and our government to succeed” but the party “must change how we are doing things to turn things around”.
In a final message to supporters earlier this week she said Labour had to be “more in touch with our movement, and the communities and workplaces we represent, more principled and strategic, less tactical, and strongly guided by our values”.
10.17am BST
Desire for change is 'palpable' says Powell in first speech as Labour's new deputy leader
Lucy Powell has paid tribute to former Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, saying she has some “big shoes to fill”, as she took to the stage to celebrate her win.
Powell spoke about how “division and hate” has increased. She said the desire for change is “palpable”.
After her speech, Keir Starmer said he was “delighted” to work with Powell and they would get started straight away. He described Powell as having “always been a proud defender of Labour values”.
Updated at 12.07pm BST
10.06am BST
Lucy Powell elected as Labour's new deputy leader
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood, the chair of Labour’s National Executive Committee, has announced the results of the Labour deputy leader contest, naming Lucy Powell as the winner.
Powell received 87,407 votes, while Bridget Phillipson got 73,536 votes. The turnout was 16.6%.
Updated at 10.09am BST
9.49am BST
You can follow the announcement of Labour’s new deputy leader and speeches via the live stream in the video below:
9.40am BST
Keir Starmer, Lucy Powell and Bridget Phillipson have now all arrived at the venue where the result of the deputy leadership contest will be announced.
The result of the contest is expected to be announced at 10am and will be followed by a speech from the winner. Starmer will also speak after.
9.27am BST
Inside No 10, there is disquiet among some strategists about Lucy Powell as deputy leader. Relations with Keir Starmer’s team were particularly frosty over the welfare vote.
Powell was a key figure in the cabinet underlining the possibility that the government could lose the vote – and the first to tip off No 10 about the possibility of a reasoned amendment to kill the bill.
Some of Starmer’s team then suggested they believed she was in cahoots with some of the welfare rebels, which was fiercely denied. Trust was never regained – Powell was furious that her information led to her being cast as disloyal.
But a source close to Powell said she intended to be as collegiate as possible – and said she would expect to attend political cabinet, warning there would dire consequences if there was any attempt to ban her. They said Powell had declined numerous media offers to make explicit criticism of government mistakes.
Being the only candidate with the ability to influence cabinet decisions, Bridget Phillipson has made a number of firm commitments to members. She will sit on the future of work committee that oversees the workers’ rights legislation – promising she will veto any attempt to water down or slow the proposals.
She said she would formally seek members’ and trade unionists’ views each quarter and report them directly back to the cabinet. And she has argued she has the credentials to fight Reform, in a north-east seat that looks at risk in the next election.
There is no love lost between the two candidates, especially as the race has gone on. Powell is irritated at being seen as the proxy candidate for the leadership ambitions of Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester.
But there is a fear among Starmer allies that should Burnham seek to return to Westminster as an MP, blocking his candidacy would be harder with Powell as deputy leader, as she would sit on the national executive committee, which oversees selections.
Related: Labour deputy leadership contest may only cause more trouble for Starmer
9.13am BST
There will be no big event to mark the new deputy leader result on Saturday, just a camera in Labour HQ with the results and a short speech from the winner. Some of Lucy Powell’s backers are irritated by the low-key plan. There are fears that she may be in effect frozen out – and uncertainty over whether she would be able to do her own broadcast rounds or election organising. “They need to respect the mandate if she wins,” one ally said.
Senior strategists had hoped five weeks ago to avoid a contest altogether, with a high threshold for MP nominations. Keir Starmer made appointments in the reshuffle for the party chair and the deputy prime minister, crowding out the role of deputy leader.
But with a restive parliamentary party a fix looked unlikely even though some ministers and aides piled pressure on MPs to back Bridget Phillipson.
After the first polls dropped, amid the turmoil over the departure of both Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson, Powell looked unassailable with a 17-point lead. But the race has a number of unknowns.
Phillipson’s team have made a number of strong policy interventions including on child poverty. Low turnout is expected from an apathetic party membership. And Phillipson, who has close union relations, has gained the endorsements of three major trade unions that have a vote in the deputy leadership – and which have never been polled.
She has more endorsements in London – with a higher membership – and will also be likely to command loyalty in the north-east, which also has high membership numbers. But even with all of those caveats, most Labour MPs believe Powell will win.
The leadership race has pushed both to be more publicly radical. Powell has pushed for an end to factionalism and a louder assault on Nigel Farage and the politics of division, warning about the voters being lost on the party’s left flank. She also made an early call for the end of the two-child benefit limit – a tank on Phillipson’s lawn.
Phillipson has made concrete policy commitments, which hold more weight as a cabinet minister, saying she will work to end to the two-child limit and will be the bulwark in government against the watering down of Labour’s workers’ rights package.
“The stakes are, on the surface, incredibly low,” one MP said. “But it has the potential to have huge consequences if Lucy wins. But for a hell of a lot of my members, believe it or not, they aren’t even that engaged.”
Related: Labour deputy leadership contest may only cause more trouble for Starmer
9.00am BST
Prime minister Keir Starmer and justice secretary David Lammy should take responsibility for the error which led to a former asylum seeker who sexually assaulted a woman and a teenage girl to be accidentally released from prison, Epping Forest’s Tory MP said on Saturday.
Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, a crime which triggered protests at the Bell hotel in Epping where he had been staying.
Epping Forest MP Neil Hudson told BBC Radio 4’s Today:
This sounds like an operational error, but the buck has to stop somewhere, and it has to stop at the top, at the justice secretary, the home secretary and the prime minister.
They have said that they are livid and appalled. Well, quite right, they should be livid and appalled. But that’s that’s not good enough, and the Labour government needs to get a grip of this issue.
They need to apprehend this man, but they’ve got to sort this issue out, and that’s what my constituents, who are deeply distressed and upset are saying.
8.50am BST
In case you missed it, in this previously published piece from the Guardian Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell answered reader questions on wealth taxes, Brexit, the climate crisis and the far right:
Related: Why should you be Labour’s next deputy leader? Guardian readers quiz the candidates
Updated at 8.51am BST
8.46am BST
Today's agenda
Here is today’s politics agenda, according to the PA news agency’s schedule:
10am: Labour’s new deputy leader will be announced in central London. Speeches are expected afterwards from the winner of the contest and from the prime minister.
1pm: Protesters from opposing groups are expected to descend on different sides of London after police banned Ukip supporters from gathering in Whitechapel, an area of the capital with a large Muslim population, because of what officers called a “realistic prospect of serious disorder”. Ukip supporters are expected to gather in west London at 1pm.
Saturday: Counting is to begin today to reveal who the Irish public have voted to be their next president.
Epping Forest MP Neil Hudson is on the morning media rounds for the Conservatives.
8.37am BST
Labour's new deputy leader to be announced today, as polling puts Powell ahead of Phillipson
Labour’s new deputy leader will be announced today, with polling suggesting Lucy Powell enjoyed a healthy lead over education secretary Bridget Phillipson as voting closed on Thursday, reports the PA news agency.
During the campaign, Powell frequently referred to “mistakes” made by the party on issues such as the winter fuel allowance. And in a final message to supporters this week the Manchester Central MP appeared to criticise a “command and control” culture within government, arguing that “blindly following along” was “a dereliction of our duty to defeat the politics of hate and division”.
If Powell does emerge victorious, the result is likely to be seen as a rebuke to Keir Starmer’s leadership from Labour members, more than half of whom now believe the party is heading in the wrong direction, reports the PA news agency.
The prime minister has already endured a difficult week, dominated by a row over the grooming gangs inquiry and capped with defeat in a Senedd byelection in Caerphilly, a seat held by Labour for a century.
Labour’s struggles in the polls have already led to some questions among backbenchers about Starmer’s leadership of the party.
Powell has stressed that she wants to “help Keir and our government to succeed” but also told supporters the party “must change how we are doing things to turn things around”.
Meanwhile, Phillipson, seen as No 10’s preferred candidate for the deputy leadership, has stressed unity, warning that voting for her opponent would result in “internal debate and divisions that leads us back to opposition”.
The result of the deputy leadership election is expected to be announced on Saturday at 10am BST. I’ll bring you updates on the results and reaction as they come in.
Here are some other headlines from UK politics:
Cutting the annual cash Isa allowance will not encourage many savers to switch to shares but could push up mortgage costs, MPs have warned the chancellor. Earlier this year, Rachel Reeves paused plans to limit the cash Isa allowance but in the run-up to next month’s budget there has been renewed speculation that it could be reduced to £10,000 in an attempt to promote growth.
A wipeout for Labour in next May’s local elections would spell the end of Keir Starmer’s premiership, MPs have said, after the party suffered a crushing defeat in its traditional heartland in Wales. Though Plaid Cymru beat Reform UK to capture the Senedd seat in Caerphilly, the result highlighted a striking collapse of Labour’s vote, prompting fears in Westminster that Labour could be reduced to third place in Wales, a loss that would leave the leader’s position unrecoverable.
Rishi Sunak was the only politician to be sent a witness statement by the deputy national security adviser at the centre of a controversy about the collapse of a case against two British men accused of spying for China. According to letters sent to the joint committee on the national security strategy, the statement from Matthew Collins in December 2023, which was sent to the then prime minister and his advisers, did not describe China as an enemy, another key element of the case.
Updated at 9.23am BST
