Pressure rises on Starmer as sacked critic made deputy

Keir Starmer's leadership of Labour has been dealt a blow after former cabinet minister Lucy Powell, who has criticised his leadership and policies, was elected as deputy leader.

- DAVID MADDOX POLITICAL EDITOR

Ms Powell beat Sir Keir's preferred candidate Bridget Phillipson by 87,407 votes to 73,576 in a clear message from Labour members that they want a change of direction, although the turnout was only 16.6 per cent.

The result is a huge comeback for Ms Powell, who was sacked as Commons leader by Starmer in last month's reshuffle caused by the departure of Angela Rayner, who she has now been elected to replace. Additionally, Ms Powell, the MP for Manchester Central, is close to Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who many would like to see replace Sir Keir as leader.

It comes after another appalling week for the prime minister, which has left him on the political ropes with MPs openly discussing replacing him if elections go badly next May.

Giving her final interview before voting closed to The Independent, Ms Powell warned that “we need to make some changes to how we operate” as she admitted the party has “not been able to control the agenda... we've made some mistakes, some missteps”.