Lucy Maria Powell (born 10 October 1974)[1] is a British politician who has served as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council since July 2024.

[7] She joined the pro-Euro and pro-EU Treaty pressure group Britain in Europe (BiE), originally in a public relations role and later as head of regional campaigning.

[8] After BiE was wound down in June 2005 because of the referendum "No" votes in France and the Netherlands, she worked for the non-departmental public body or quango NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), initially in a public affairs role and later to establish and manage the Manchester Innovation Fund project.

At the 2010 general election, stood in Manchester Withington, coming second with 40.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP John Leech.

[19] Powell was re-elected as MP for Manchester Central at the 2015 general election with a decreased vote share of 61.3% and an increased majority of 21,639.

[22] On 13 September 2015, Powell was appointed as Shadow Education Secretary by Jeremy Corbyn, succeeding Tristram Hunt.

[29] In September 2018, Powell introduced legislation in the House of Commons to ban secret, private, invite-only groups on Facebook and hold moderators legally responsible for hate speech or defamation on forums.

[33] On 9 April 2020, Powell rejoined the Labour front bench when she was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers by new party leader Keir Starmer.

[38] After the Labour Party's victory in the 2024 general election, Powell was appointed the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council by the new Prime Minister Keir Starmer on 5 July.

[39] Powell is married to James Williamson, an emergency medicine doctor, and has three children – a stepson, a daughter, and a son.