Smith was an early critic of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, backing a no-confidence vote in 2016; in part due to this position, she lost a no-confidence motion in her constituency. She resigned from Labour in February 2019 alongside six other MPs in protest at Corbyn's leadership, and they formed the Independent Group, later Change UK. In June 2019, she left Change UK to sit as an independent MP before joining the Liberal Democrats in September. At the 2019 general election, she stood as a Liberal Democrat in Altrincham and Sale West, where she finished third.
She stood unsuccessfully as the Labour Party candidate for the Castle Ward of Cambridge City Council in May 1994.[6] She was elected a Labour member of Sheffield City Council in 1996 for the ward of Broomhill, before winning in Birley ward in 2000 and 2004. She stood down in 2005 and the new Labour candidate won the by-election in May 2005.[4][7]
In 2016, Smith backed a vote of no confidence in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in events which led to a leadership election in which Corbyn was re-elected as leader with an increased majority.[9]
Positions
After a period as opposition Whip, Smith was promoted to the front bench as the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House in October 2010.[10]
In Parliament, she is a member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, and is a former member of the Administration Committee, the Procedure Committee, the Regulatory Reform Committee and Transport Committee.[11]
She is a trustee of the Industry and Parliament Trust, which works to promote an understanding of business amongst parliamentarians and policymakers.[12]
In 2013, she became a vice-president of the League Against Cruel Sports.[13]
Since February 2016, Smith has served as a member of the advisory board at Polar Research and Policy Initiative.[14]
During her tenure Smith worked to reinstate the former Woodhead line between Hadfield and Penistone.[16] Smith is one of 71 MPs who have signed a petition to re-open the trans-Pennine route, and she has on more than one occasion headed debates in Westminster on the need for more railway investment in the north.
In July 2009, she introduced a symbolic Ten Minute Rule Bill to the House of Commons which, if accepted by government, would have changed the law to give people more legal protection against attacks by dogs. She worked with the RSPCA and the Communication Workers Union on the issue. It failed.[17]
Smith was voted Constituency MP of the year 2011–12, voted for by fellow MPs, honouring her campaign against the axing of an £80million loan to Sheffield Forgemasters.
She followed this up by being awarded the League Against Cruel Sports' Parliamentarian of the Year in 2013 for her efforts against the trial badger cull, in which she worked with campaigner Brian May, as well as recognition for her wider campaign in protecting animals from cruelty.[18]
In 2018, Smith opposed Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell's policy of re-nationalising England and Wales's water networks, saying such plans were "an expensive indulgence in the politics of the past ... founded on the altar of ideology and constantly vulnerable to political interference".[19] She has called for "rigorous reform" of Ofwat (England and Wales's water regulator).[20]
Motion of no confidence
On 16 November 2018, her Constituency Labour Party passed a motion of no confidence in her on the grounds of her lack of support for the party leadership, her support for fracking and her opposition to water re-nationalisation. Smith tweeted that her "first priority is always to do my job, to the best of my ability" and that her defeat was as a result of "a cabal of hard left members" who had "absorbed everyone's precious time and energy on an inaccurate and divisive motion of no confidence".[21]
Expenses
Smith was one of 98 MPs who voted unsuccessfully to keep their expense details secret in 2007. She defended her vote on the grounds that it would help member-constituent confidentiality and help prevent the private addresses of MPs being readily available to the public.[22]
Smith employed her husband as her Senior Parliamentary Assistant on a salary of up to £40,000.[24] The practice of MPs employing family members has been criticised by some sections of the media on the grounds that it promotes nepotism.[25][26] Although MPs who were first elected in 2017 have been banned from employing family members, the restriction is not retrospective.[27]
The Independent Group and The Independents
On 18 February 2019, Smith and six other MPs (Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Mike Gapes, Gavin Shuker, and Ann Coffey) resigned the Labour whip to sit as The Independent Group of MPs in the House of Commons.[28] These resignations were prompted by issues with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, including allegations of the mishandling of antisemitism and his approach to Brexit.[29] In June 2019, she left this group to sit as an independent MP.[30]
In 2019, Smith attracted condemnation when, shortly after citing antisemitism as one of her reasons for leaving Labour at the Independent Group launch earlier that day, she appeared on BBC Two's Politics Live where she referred to fighting racism as "not just about being black or a funny tin..." before hesitating and then finishing the sentence with "from the BME community": the unfinished word was widely taken to have been 'tinge'.[31][32][33] She later issued a video statement in which she said she "misspoke very badly".[34][35] Smith later told Sky News that she had been "very, very tired".[36]
In July 2019, Smith was a founding member of a grouping of MPs called The Independents.[1]
Liberal Democrats
On 8 September 2019, it was announced that Smith had joined the Liberal Democrats.[37][38] At the 2019 general election, she stood as a Liberal Democrat in Altrincham and Sale West, finishing in third place with 11% of the vote.[39] During the election campaign, Smith complained that she was effectively being discriminated against because she would not receive the MP's LOOP (loss of office payment) as a consequence of changing constituencies if defeated – drawing an apparent contrast with controversial ex-Labour MP Jared O'Mara, who at the time had not ruled out defending his seat.[40]
Post-parliamentary career
In July 2020, Smith joined the board of Portsmouth Water as an independent non-executive director.[41] She had previously voiced opposition to nationalising England's water industry.[42]
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Change UK, founded as The Independent Group (TIG) and later The Independent Group for Change, was a British centrist, pro–European Union political party, which lasted for ten months in 2019. Established in February and formally recognized as a party in May, it was dissolved in December after all its MPs lost their seats at that year's general election. Its principal aim was a second withdrawal referendum on European Union membership, in which it would campaign to remain in the EU. On economic issues it expressed a commitment to the social market economy.
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