Introduced by former Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, Ruth Smeeth, Phillips reminisced on past elections at the event run by Birmingham Voluntary Service Council, describing the ‘week-long party’ following Labour’s 1997 landslide in contrast with the ‘complete and utter irrelevance’ her party, now entering its second decade in opposition, faces.

She spoke of the next leader needing to be ‘bold’ and, perhaps referring to the ‘continuity candidate,’ Rebecca Long-Bailey, expressed that this person should be different to those that Labour has had before.

Phillips also said she believed ‘Boris Johnson would be absolutely terrified’ at the prospect of facing her as the Leader of the Opposition, alleging that the prime minister had told her this himself.

We have got to be making sure that we are […] preparing our students for a future market economy

An hour of questions from the audience then followed, ranging from how she would tackle the issue of lying in politics, to how she would unite a fractured party.

Redbrick had the opportunity to ask what a Jess Phillips-led Labour Party would offer to students and young people. Starting her answer with ‘just a future,’ the MP explained how she wanted her party to ‘genuinely activate’ young people, feeling that they have to be given more responsibility within Labour.

She continued by commending young people for what they have ‘done around the climate,’ saying how her own son is ‘barely ever at school’ as a result of the recent climate strikes.

Phillips then went on to say that: ‘We have got to be making sure that we are creating and looking to the jobs of the future and preparing our students for a future market economy that we don’t necessarily recognise.’

After the event, Redbrick engaged Phillips in a wide-ranging conversation, in which she said she ‘really liked’ her time at UoB, where she studied for a postgraduate diploma, and it transpired that she was a fan of the old lifts in ‘that Muirhead building.’

On the issue of tuition fees, she said that ‘anyone who doesn’t believe in the principle of free education is mad’ but that before abolishing them she would want to ensure that schools and the early years system was properly funded.

‘Once every single kid can go to school five days a week and all the schools are given properly funded early years system, of course then you would say we want to abolish tuition fees.’

Phillips also indicated support for reform of Student Finance, commenting that she herself has only just paid off her student debt.