Overview

• Around 300,000 Labour members are voting now, with the ballot closing on 23 October and the result due on 25 October.
• Lucy Powell, seen as the frontrunner, warns against writing off next May’s elections and calls the 26 November budget a chance to lift the two‑child benefit cap and show clearer priorities.
• Powell, recently removed from the cabinet, pitches herself as an outsider willing to deliver hard truths to No 10 to avoid losses to Reform UK.
• Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary and cabinet-aligned candidate, pledges a formal quarterly process to relay members’ and unions’ views directly to cabinet.
• Both campaigns center child poverty, with Powell calling scrapping the two‑child cap a “no brainer” and Phillipson signaling confidence that the government will act to help children in poverty.