Exclusive: Intervention by deputy leadership contender could have saved company based in her Manchester constituency millions
Lucy Powell urged ministers to reconsider costly legal proceedings against a property development firm in her constituency founded by a Labour donor, in a move that could have saved his company millions, the Guardian can disclose.
Powell, who is the favourite to be elected Labour’s deputy leader this week, wrote to Angela Rayner on behalf of Urban Splash, a property developer in Manchester founded by party donor Tom Bloxham.
Powell asked Rayner, who was then housing secretary, to reconsider the government’s “disproportionate” legal action against the company, days after bumping into Bloxham at a Labour party fundraising dinner. She had met company executives about the case two weeks prior.
Asked about the intervention, made while she was a cabinet minister, Powell said she had acted in her capacity as a constituency MP and had done so “openly and transparently”. She denied she had done anything inappropriate, though MPs are under huge scrutiny after a series of lobbying scandals.
