Major unions to nominate deputy Labour leader candidate

Photo credit: Media gallery of Bridget Phillipson MP

North East MP Bridget Phillipson will find out today (25 September) if she has secured the backing of the UK’s major unions to become Kier Starmer’s new deputy.

Trade unions Unison and GMB are set to announce whether they will back Phillipson to become Angela Rayner’s successor as deputy leader of the Labour Party.

Phillipson is competing against Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell to gain the support of the unions, as well as local Labour parties, in the second round of the contest.

Addressing the TUC conference earlier this month, Phillipson pledged to “restore opportunity and hope to working people”. Multiple unions, including the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw), have already declared their support for her. 

While the Labour Party could historically rely on union support, the mood shifted in July this year when Unite voted overwhelmingly to re-examine their relationship with the party and suspend Angela Rayner’s membership over bin strikes in Birmingham. According to Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, Rayner “backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers”.

Born in Washington in 1983, Phillipson has served as MP for Houghton and Sunderland South since 2010, and as Education Secretary since Labour’s general election victory in July 2024.

In her ‘meet the candidates’ statement, the MP promoted her work in her constituency, stating that she “delivered free breakfast clubs by ending private schools’ tax breaks … and secured free school meals for half a million more children”.

The final round of the deputy leadership contest will begin on Wednesday 8 October, when the candidates will face a vote of party members.