Lucy Powell
Lucy Powell is the Labour Party MP for Manchester Central. [1]
Powell was elected in a by-election on November 15th 2012 and is the first female Labour MP to represent a Manchester constituency. [2] In the 2015 general election Powell retained her seat with a majority of 21,639. [3]
She is also the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office and vice chair of Labour's general election campaign. [4] As of September 2015, Powell now serves as the Shadow minister for Education following Jeremy Corbyn's extensive reshuffle.
Background
Before going into politics, Powell led a major investment project in Manchester for NESTA, the UK’s innovation agency. As leader of this project, she worked with local businesses and other partners to support start-ups and creative companies in and around the region.
After this, she pursued a career in politics and went on to make her mark when she caught Ed Miliband, the Labour party leader's attention while working on the 1997 general election campaign at Labour’s Millbank headquarters.
Immigration Document Leaked
In December 2014 Powell approved a controversial document advising Labour MPs not to engage with voters on the subject of immigration. The document that was leaked was a 33-page paper entitled ‘Campaigning against Ukip’ which advised Labour candidates to focus on “moving the conversation on” from immigration if it were raised by voters. [5]
The approval of this document bought Powell under significant scrutiny amongst fellow Labour Party members, with some frontbenchers said to be "incandescent" with rage. Many party members believed that it 'threatened to undermine Ed Miliband's attempts to claim Labour was getting tough on immigration.' [6]
Education
Powell studied chemistry at University of Oxford and King’s College London. [2]
Notes
- ↑ Lucy Powell MP www.parliament.uk, accessed 2 March 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 About Lucy Lucy Powell MP, accessed 2 March 2015
- ↑ Manchester Central - Labour Hold for Lucy Powell, the party's election supremo ITV News, 8 May 2015, accessed 18 May 2015
- ↑ Lucy Powell NewStatesman, accessed 2 March 2015
- ↑ Lucy Powell in doghouse over toxic Labour immigration memo The Week, accessed 2 March 2015
- ↑ Ben Riley-Smith Ed Miliband's new election chief under fire over 'cack-handed' leaked strategy document The Telegraph, 15 December 2014, accessed 2 March 2015
