About Lucy Powell
Lucy Maria Powell (born 10 October 1974) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Education since 2026 and as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2025. She served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council from July 2024 to September 2025. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Central since 2012. Powell has been described as belonging to the soft left of the Labour Party. Born in Manchester, Powell attended Parrs Wood High School. She went on to study at Somerville College, Oxford for one year then King's College London, before working in campaigning and PR roles for Britain in Europe, NESTA and the Labour Party. Powell was elected to the House of Commons at the 2012 Manchester Central by-election as MP for Manchester Central. She was re-elected at the 2015 UK general election and campaigned to remain in the European Union (EU) in the 2016 Brexit referendum. She was re-elected in both the 2017 and 2019 general elections. Powell held several shadow cabinet roles under both Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn, and was vice-chair of the 2015 election campaign for the former. Having left Corbyn's frontbench team during the 2016 British shadow cabinet resignations, she rejoined the Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer in 2020, holding portfolios in business, housing and culture. In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. After Labour's victory in the 2024 UK general election, Powell was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council in the first Starmer cabinet. She was removed from the government as a part of the 2025 British cabinet reshuffle and returned to the backbenches. Following the resignation of Angela Rayner, Powell put her name forward as a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party on 9 September 2025. She defeated Bridget Phillipson on 25 October 2025, holding the position of Deputy Leader for the remainder of Starmer's leadership and subsequently under Andy Burnham. She returned to Cabinet under Burnham as Education Secretary in July 2026. Powell first joined the opposition frontbench in October 2013 as Shadow Childcare and Early Years Minister, and entered the Miliband shadow cabinet in November 2014 as Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office. In March 2025, Powell organised the first official photograph of all 263 women MPs elected in 2024 to mark the highest female representation in Commons history. Powell’s campaign won formal endorsement from a number of affiliated organisations, including the trade unions ASLEF, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), and from socialist society Disability Labour.
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