"Labour must lead with values, not fear" - Sarah Owen MP explains why she won't be standing for Deputy Leader role

While it’s filled me with nothing but humility and gratitude to have received encouragement from friends and colleagues across the Labour movement, I want people in Luton North to know that I won’t be standing for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

The deputy leadership contest should focus on reconnecting with the working people Labour was founded to represent. Last year, people in Luton voted for change. If Labour doesn’t act now for people in towns like mine, we’ll stand on the edge of a hard-right, Reform government led by Nigel Farage. To beat him, we cannot allow the same toxic environment being actively encouraged by Reform to be the easy answer for our party. Demonising migrants, Muslims, trans people, and other minorities will not make our country more successful or united. Nor will it make a tangible difference to the people who need secure jobs, safer streets, or are hitting redial at 8am for a GP appointment. In fact, it will make matters worse. Farage is selling people the same lie about immigration that he did about Brexit.

We should not be afraid to say it like it is: Farage is a trumped-up conman who cares only for himself, not our country. Labour must offer a positive vision for our country and be the home for all voters who want to stop this existential threat to our democracy.

In the short time since I took over as Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, our work has led to significant changes on everything from sharing intimate images without consent, to the parental leave review, to highlighting medical misogyny that leaves women undiagnosed and in pain.

My proudest moment as an MP came this year, when our inquiry into miscarriage led to us successfully adding a new law into Labour’s Employment Rights Bill. This means the UK will recognise the loss of pregnancy at any stage as a bereavement, with an entitlement for time off to grieve for both parents. Having experienced the pain of miscarriage both before and during my time as an MP, I know the difference this will make for many in their darkest time.

In this volatile climate, I want to continue leading this important work that brings people together through greater understanding, not othering. I’m not in Parliament to chase the next big job, but to make real change to people’s lives; to serve our party, our country, and the people of Luton North – the place I love and am proud to call home.

It allows me to work on the issues that put fire in my belly, while also being able to constructively put forward the view of people in Luton North when the government gets it wrong. It is something I have demonstrated with my actions. Although it was not an easy decision to leave the front bench in October 2023, it was a clear-headed choice for me to vote for a ceasefire for Gaza, where we have seen the biggest moral failing by the international community of our times unfold before our eyes.

I’m so proud of what our Labour Government is delivering. Locally, we already have our first free breakfast clubs and three new or expanded nurseries, we’re bringing thousands of new jobs to our town over the coming years at the airport and the new Universal Studios, and we’re getting our NHS to a place where waiting lists are going in the right direction for the first time in years.

When we have deviated from the core of what Labour stands for on welfare support for disabled people, pensioners, and the suffering in Gaza, the public has stopped listening to the Labour Party.

When we have got things right, it’s because we have delivered for the people who voted us in last year and remained true to our Labour principles. We need to build on work that means people can get on and succeed, regardless of their background.

We need to stay true to our values; those that gave Labour its biggest majority in decades. Our manifesto promised a better country to grow up and grow old in, that we would take global leadership in addressing human rights abuses, and that we would support those who can’t work, and better rights for those who can.

That’s why I’m committed to playing my part – on the backbenches and the Committee – in making this coming year of Government braver, more faithful and successful for all of us in Luton North.