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Powell Rules Out Labour Leadership Contest, Calls for Course Correction

She says the party must reset to stem losses to Reform UK, the Greens, the Lib Dems.

Overview

  • Deputy leader Lucy Powell told British Vogue it "would be madness to get into a conversation about changing leaders" following weeks of leadership speculation.
  • Powell urged a strategic "course correction," saying Labour must prove mainstream progressive politics can deliver and position itself as the "anti-Farage alliance."
  • She acknowledged recent government missteps, citing the halt to the winter fuel allowance and welfare cuts that prompted U-turns and, she said, left voters feeling Labour was not on their side.
  • Vogue, as reported by the Manchester Evening News, cites polling putting Labour around 18% and Reform UK at about 33%.
  • Speculation about Andy Burnham returning to Westminster persists, though he has dismissed recent reports on X; talk of potential seats has included Gorton and Denton, which suspended MP Andrew Gwynne says he will not vacate.