Brand barrister’s cross-examination of victims shocking and depressing, says Labour deputy

Lucy Powell says she thought ‘we’d gone past that sort of culture’, and that she regrets setting up Miliband interview with comedian in 2015

• Russell Brand sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for rape and sexual assault

The education secretary, Lucy Powell has criticised the “depressing” nature of the cross-examination of Russell Brand’s victims during his trial for rape and sexual assault, saying she had believed it was “long gone past that sort of culture”.

Powell, who is the deputy leader of Labour, also said she regretted the meeting that former leader Ed Miliband had with Brand in 2015, at the time when she was Labour’s campaign chief.