Labour's Deputy Leader urges colleagues not to plunge party into 'nasty and bloody internal contest' as she warns of impending devastating losses

George Bunn
Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:55:25 +0000

Lucy Powell has delivered a stark warning to potential challengers within Labour, urging them not to drag the party into a divisive battle for the top job following next month's elections.

The Deputy Leader cautioned that members would view any attempt to unseat Sir Keir Starmer extremely unfavourably whilst the Prime Minister navigates significant global challenges, including fallout from the Iran conflict.

"Some kind of messy, bloody internal contest is not going to help us address those issues," the Manchester Central MP told the Financial Times.

She emphasised that the party must "hold our nerve" during this turbulent period.

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Mrs Powell continued: "I've got my own job and my own mandate. I'm not saying this because I want to suck up to anyone. I'm saying it because it's the right thing for the party and country."

She acknowledged that Labour confronts a challenging set of contests on May 7, with the party expected to suffer significant setbacks in elections for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and English councils.

The party finds itself under pressure from both Reform UK and the Greens in the polls.

In what amounted to a veiled criticism of the Prime Minister's approach, she suggested Labour had not adequately convinced the electorate that this administration was pursuing genuinely Labour policies.

She continued: "I think we've been too shy about some of the radical things we have been doing.

"People want us to sharpen up, get more political, tell the story much more strongly and take the fight to our political opponents."

Despite Ms Powell's intervention, fresh polling suggests the wider public has already made up its mind about the Prime Minister's future.

A JL Partners survey found that 64 per cent of voters want Sir Keir to leave Downing Street, with just 18 per cent believing he should remain.

Perhaps more troubling for Labour strategists, the research revealed that even among those who backed the party at the 2024 general election, 46 per cent now want the Prime Minister gone compared to 37 per cent who support him staying.

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James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners, said: "The usual loyalty we see in British politics has become unbuckled as far as Labour is concerned. And that places the Prime Minister in a very perilous position indeed."

Ms Powell is a close ally of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who harbours his own leadership ambitions but currently lacks a route to challenge Sir Keir.

The Prime Minister and his supporters blocked Mr Burnham from contesting the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, which was won by the Green Party's Hannah Spencer, amid concerns he was seeking a path back to Westminster to position himself for a future leadership bid.

Without a seat in the House of Commons, Mr Burnham would be ineligible to replace Sir Keir should the Prime Minister be forced out after the May elections.

Any delay to a leadership contest would therefore work in the Greater Manchester Mayor's favour, with his allies suggesting other opportunities to return to Parliament could emerge in the coming months.

Ms Powell's intervention comes as another prominent Labour figure has also sounded the alarm about the party's direction.

Angela Rayner, the former Deputy Prime Minister, warned in a recent speech that Labour is "running out of time" to deliver meaningful change and cannot simply "go through the motions in the face of decline".

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP argued that the party had come to be perceived as representing "the Establishment, not working people" and called for a shift in approach.

Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds suggested Sir Keir shared Ms Rayner's frustration, telling Sky News: "I think where I would agree, and I think everybody across Government would agree, is sharing an impatience with the pace of change."

Ms Rayner has been widely viewed as a potential successor to Sir Keir amid ongoing speculation about his leadership.