I'll keep party's soul at heart of government

EDUCATION Secretary Bridget Phillipson is going head-to-head with Lucy Powell in the race to be Labour's deputy leader. As voting opens today, here she sets out her pitch...

- BRIDGET PHILLIPSON

PRESCOTT, Harman, Rayner. Great deputy leaders who put our party's soul into the heart of government with a mandate from the membership and a seat at the Cabinet table.

Those are big shoes to fill but those are the footsteps I am pledging to follow in as deputy leader.

Supporting, not undermining, this Labour Government but also making sure it reflects the values that spurred party members to join in the first place.

I'll make reducing child poverty the moral mission of this government and my deputy leadership.

I guarantee to ensure it falls in this Parliament: because with the mandate to do more, I'll have the power to my elbow to get it done.