Cat Smith

2016–2021

Ben Soffa

​

​

(m. 2016;sep. 2020)​

Cat Smith MP
Official portrait, 2020
Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2015		Young People and Democracy
Domestic partner	David Linden (2021–)
Alma mater	Lancaster University (BA)
Website	catsmith.co.uk

Catherine Jane Smith ^[1] (born 16 June 1985) ^[2] is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster and Fleetwood since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she was a member of the shadow cabinets led by Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer from 2016 to 2021 as Shadow Secretary of State, previously Shadow Minister, for Young People and Democracy. ^[3]

Early life and education

Smith was born in Barrow-in-Furness. She has said that she "didn't have a political upbringing". Her mother was a Methodist and, through going to church with her, Smith became involved with youth movements in the church. Her father was a trade unionist. ^[4] She attended Parkview School (in 2009 this merged into Furness Academy) and Barrow Sixth Form College. In 2003, she began studying for a bachelor's degree at Lancaster University. She was a member of Cartmel College and initially studied religious studies, but switched to a joint honours degree in sociology and gender studies, from which she graduated in 2006. ^{[5] [6]} Smith was elected the Women's Officer for Lancaster University Students' Union, a sabbatical role, and served in the 2006–2007 academic year. ^[5]

Political career

Early political career

Smith first stood for election as a Labour Party candidate for University ward on Lancaster City Council in 2007. She came fifth with 98 votes. ^[4] She supported John McDonnell for leader in the 2007 Labour Party leadership election which was occasioned by Prime Minister Tony Blair's resignation; Gordon Brown won unopposed. Smith said it was more important to her to see multiple candidates stand than for McDonnell specifically to win. ^[7] In the same year, she was a candidate for Labour Party National Executive Committee (NEC) Youth Representative. ^[8]

Smith worked as an office manager for the Christian Socialist Movement from 2007 to 2009 before working as a research and constituency worker for three Members of Parliament (MPs) from 2009 to 2012: Jeremy Corbyn, Katy Clark, and Bob Marshall-Andrews. ^[5] Smith was the Labour Party candidate for Wyre and Preston North constituency in the 2010 general election, the first in which it was contested, but she was unsuccessful and came in a narrow third behind the Liberal Democrat candidate. In 2020 she told Lancs Live, "I had been called because there was no Wyre and Preston candidate for Labour... I wasn't expecting to win but I was happy to make the case for Labour to the constituents." ^[4]

In 2010–2011, Smith was chair of Compass Youth. ^[9] In 2011, a majority of the Compass Youth committee, including Smith, resigned in protest at Compass' decision to become a cross-party body. The resigning members set up a new organisation called Next Generation Labour, which Smith chaired for a period. ^[10] From 2012 to 2015, Smith worked as a campaigns and policy officer for the British Association of Social Workers (BASW). In 2013, she was selected as the Labour candidate to contest Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency at the next election. ^[5]

Member of Parliament

Smith won Lancaster and Fleetwood in the 2015 general election, defeating the Conservative incumbent Eric Ollerenshaw. ^[5] Smith became a member of the Socialist Campaign Group within the Parliamentary Labour Party after her election. ^[11] Following Labour's overall defeat, however, party leader Ed Miliband resigned. In the ensuing leadership election, Smith was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's candidacy and was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate him for leader. ^[12] In June 2015, Smith was elected as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cuba. ^[13] In July, she was one of 48 Labour MPs to defy the whip and vote against the Welfare Reform and Work Bill. ^[14]

Following Corbyn's election as Labour leader, Smith was appointed as a shadow minister in the Women & Equalities Office, working under Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities Kate Green. ^[15]

She criticised the 2016 European Union referendum, saying that younger people preferred to remain in the EU, while the majority result was to leave. ^[16]

Front bench

On 27 June 2016, Smith entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Voter Engagement and Youth Affairs. ^[17] This followed on from a series of resignations of shadow ministers who had lost confidence in Corbyn's leadership; Smith took over from Gloria De Piero, one of the first shadow ministers to resign. ^[18] On 6 April 2020, Smith was re-appointed to her shadow cabinet role by the newly elected Labour Party Leader, Keir Starmer.^{[ citation needed ]}

In addition to her other duties, Smith served as Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, in which role she made her debut at the Despatch Box on 20 December 2016. ^[19]

On 29 November 2021, during a shadow cabinet reshuffle, Smith resigned from her role on the front bench. She suggested that Starmer's office had offered her the opportunity to remain in her brief, but she declined citing concerns over the ongoing suspension of former party leader Jeremy Corbyn from the Parliamentary Labour Party and lack of frontbench support for proportional representation. ^{[20] [21]}

Expenses

On 24 May 2016, Lancashire Constabulary announced that an investigation had been opened following allegations that Smith broke election spending laws by spending thousands of pounds more than she declared, relating to a visit by a nationally organised Labour "battlebus" to her constituency. ^{[22] [23]} In June 2016, Lancashire Constabulary were granted a year-long extension to investigate Smith's election expenses, ^[24] and in November 2016 they cleared Smith of any wrongdoing. ^[25]

Personal life

Smith married her partner of eleven years, Ben Soffa, in September 2016. ^[26] Soffa has worked as head of digital organising for the Labour Party since 2015. In July 2018, Smith gave birth to the couple's first child. ^[27] In October 2020 she revealed in a letter posted to Twitter that she was separating from her husband. ^[28] Smith is currently in a relationship with SNP MP David Linden. ^[29]

Smith identifies as bisexual. ^[30]

In 2010, Smith was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which she says has affected her energy levels, and which she uses medication to control. ^[31]

Smith is a Methodist, ^[32] and is co-founder of Christians for Choice, a project of Abortion Rights. ^[33]

References

1. "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll". Lancaster City Council. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
2. Carr, Tim (18 May 2015). The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2015: Profiles of the New MPs and Analysis of the 2015 General Election Results. Biteback Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84954-924-0.
3. "Lancaster & Fleetwood". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
4. Moffitt, Dominic (15 March 2020). "Why Lancaster and Fleetwood MP Cat Smith never wanted a career in politics". Lancs Live. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
5. Foster, Dawn (26 September 2017). "Cat Smith MP: 'Tory policies have led to a huge waste of potential'". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
6. Bennett, Owen (25 August 2015). "Cat Smith talks Jeremy Corbyn, Jesus Christ and Why 'Socialism' Isn't 'Radical'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
7. Smith, Cat (12 May 2009). "You've made your bed; now lie in it". LabourList. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
8. "Interview with Labour Party NEC Youth Rep candidates". Compass Youth. 4 February 2007. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
9. Smith, Cat (22 December 2010). "Compass Youth – sticking with the Labour Party". LabourList. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
10. Smith, Cat (13 June 2011). ""Next Generation Labour" launched". LabourList. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
11. Wintour, Patrick; Watt, Nicholas (25 September 2015). "The Corbyn earthquake – how Labour was shaken to its foundations". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
12. "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". New Statesman. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
13. "New All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Cuba". Cuba Solidarity Campaign. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
14. Smith, Cat (21 July 2015). "Labour MP: why I voted against party on welfare bill". ITV News. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
15. Anoosh, Chakelian (18 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet: the full list of ministers". New Statesman. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
16. "Lancaster MP Cat Smith says voters have been misled yet again". Lancaster Guardian. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
17. "MP Cat Smith promoted to shadow cabinet". Lancaster Evening Post. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
18. "Labour Shadow Cabinet resignations". The Guardian. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
19. "Commons Debates 20 December 2016, Column 1408". Hansard. 20 December 2016.
20. Stewart, Heather; Allegretti, Aubrey (29 November 2021). "Keir Starmer reshuffles Labour frontbench for second time in a year". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
21. "Lancaster MP Cat Smith resigns from shadow cabinet role". www.lancasterguardian.co.uk. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
22. Staff writer (24 May 2016). "Labour MP Cat Smith denies improper expenses claim". BBC News . Retrieved 24 May 2016.
23. Casalicchio, Emilio (24 May 2016). "Police probe into Labour frontbencher Cat Smith's election expenses". PoliticsHome . Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
24. Crick, Michael (13 June 2016). "Did Labour's Battlebus operation break the rules?". Channel 4 News . Retrieved 13 June 2016.
25. "Police drop Lancaster MP expenses investigation". The Bay Radio . 11 November 2016. Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
26. "Barrow-born MP weds her partner with Labour leader among the guests". North West Evening Mail. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
27. "Lancaster and Fleetwood MP Cat Smith has given birth to a baby boy". Lancaster Guardian. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
28. @catsmithmp (22 October 2020). "My husband, from whom I am currently in the process of separating..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
29. Rodger, Hannah (13 September 2021). "SNP MP finds love on Labour benches". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
30. Duffy, Nick (18 September 2015). "Labour appoints bisexual MP Cat Smith to equalities role". Pink News. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
31. @catsmithmp (31 December 2019). "2010: got diagnosis of POTS and with medication started feeling great! Used new energy to..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
32. "Hansard" (PDF). publications.parliament.uk. UK Parliament. 2 January 2016. Lancaster is famous for its nonconformist residents, so as a Methodist I feel I am in good company. I am pleased to be making my maiden speech in the debate on Britain in the world, because it was my faith that led me into politics, through the campaigns to drop third world debt and the campaign for fair trade.
33. "Abortion Rights members challenge anti-choice group on their Christian principles". Abortion Rights. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2021.

External links

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile at labour.org.uk
• CatSmithMP on Twitter

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Eric Ollerenshaw	Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood 2015–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Gloria De Piero as Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration	Shadow Minister for Voter Engagement and Youth Affairs 2016–present	Incumbent