Laura Smith (politician)

Laura Smith (born 1985)[1] is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Crewe and Nantwich from 2017[2] to 2019. In 2017 she defeated the incumbent Conservative Edward Timpson by 48 votes.[3]

Cllr

Laura Smith
Smith in 2017
Shadow Minister of State
for the Cabinet Office
In office
12 January 2018 – 13 June 2018
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJo Platt
Member of Parliament
for Crewe and Nantwich
In office
8 June 2017 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byEdward Timpson
Succeeded byKieran Mullan
Member of Cheshire East Council for Crewe South
Assumed office
27 February 2020
Preceded byDorothy Flude
Personal details
Born1985 (age 35–36)
Political partyLabour
Alma materManchester Metropolitan University

Early life and career

Smith attended Brine Leas School in Nantwich, Cheshire and South Cheshire College in Crewe.[4] She went on to study at Crewe campus of Manchester Metropolitan University, qualifying as a school teacher. After being disheartened by education becoming "totally focused on results, Ofsted inspections, a packed Curriculum and targets, targets, targets",[5] Smith founded a tutoring business, called One-to-One Learning UK, based in Nantwich, where she worked with hundreds of schoolchildren in the local area, including pupils studying to pass Independent school entrance exams and the Eleven-plus.[1][6][7]

Political career

Smith was involved in the campaign against school funding cuts in Cheshire East. She told the Crewe Chronicle: "I sat at home after going to a public meeting at Brine Leas School" about proposed education cuts "and I decided enough was enough regarding the funding for schools and I posted something on Facebook. From that, I got involved with the fairer funding".[8]

Smith was announced as the Labour Party candidate for the Crewe and Nantwich constituency in the snap 2017 general election on 1 May 2017.[9] She launched her campaign on 3 May, saying "What ordinary people need are decent well-paid jobs and greater job security. In this race locally, I am the only candidate committed to that." She also said that she was not a "natural-born politician" and promised to be a "different sort of MP if elected that remains accessible and up front with her constituents".[10] In the election, Smith defeated incumbent Conservative junior minister Edward Timpson by 48 votes, overturning a majority of 3,620. She declared that the result "sent a message to the establishment and the elite", the seat having been held by the Conservatives in elections since Gwyneth Dunwoody died in 2008. The seat saw a 3.7% swing to Labour, and an increase in turnout of 3%, to just under 70%.[8][11]

On 13 June 2018, Smith and five other Labour MPs resigned their roles as frontbenchers for the Labour Party in protest at Labour's Brexit position. Leader Jeremy Corbyn had instructed his MPs to abstain in a vote which Britain would remain in the single market by joining the European Economic Area (EEA). Following her resignation Smith voted against the EEA.[12] Smith also resigned her position as a Shadow Cabinet Office Minister.[13] However, despite this stance, Smith abstained from a vote to delay the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union for a time sufficient to enable a second referendum on leaving the EU to be held.[14]

In September 2018 Smith called for a general strike to "topple" Theresa May's Conservative government. Deputy Labour Leader, Tom Watson, quickly distanced the Labour Party from Smith saying her comments were "not particularly helpful". Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey added: "Just to make it perfectly clear a general strike is not Labour Party policy."[15]

Smith lost her seat in the 2019 general election, to Kieran Mullan of the Conservative Party.[16][17] The Labour vote was down 9.7% to 37.4% and the Conservative vote up 6.1% to 53.1% giving Kieran Mullan a majority of 8,508.[18] In January 2020 Smith appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to speak about her life since losing the election, and to dispel what she described as "the misconception... that people who are members of parliament – even local councillors – are kind of sitting on a bank of reserves or will automatically have connections who will come and want to hire you". The interview came after Smith was photographed at her local job centre.[19][20]

On 27 February 2020, Smith was elected to Cheshire East Council for the Crewe South ward.[21]

Political views

Smith identifies as a socialist and was part of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs during her time in parliament.[22] She is a supporter of the Labour Against Private Schools campaign, which aims to abolish independent schools in the United Kingdom.[23]

References
  1. "Stapeley mum Laura Smith selected as Labour parliamentary candidate". Nantwich News. 1 May 2017. Archived from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  2. "Laura Smith MP". parliament.uk. Parliament UK. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017.
  3. Weale, Sally (4 July 2017). "The teacher and school cuts protester who became an MP". Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2017 – via www.theguardian.com.
  4. "Smith, Laura". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. Retrieved 13 February 2018. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  5. "Nantwich tutoring business looks to expand and recruit". Nantwich News. 19 May 2016.
  6. "One to One Learning". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  7. Crewe Chronicle (1 May 2017). "Labour selects Laura Smith as its parliamentary candidate for Crewe and Nantwich". Crewe Chronicle. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  8. Ryan, Belinda (9 June 2017). "Labour's Laura Smith wins Crewe and Nantwich seat after three recounts". Crewe Chronicle. Archived from the original on 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  9. "Stapeley mum Laura Smith selected as Labour parliamentary candidate". Nantwich News. 1 May 2017.
  10. "Laura launches her campaign in Crewe". Crewe and Nantwich Labour Party. 4 May 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  11. "Labour's Laura Smith wins stunning General Election victory in Crewe & Nantwich seat". Nantwich News. 9 June 2017. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  12. Culbertson, Alix (14 June 2018). "Six Labour MPs quit frontbench roles over key Brexit vote". Sky News. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  13. Morris, Nigel (13 June 2018). "Six Labour frontbenchers resign in protest at Labour's Brexit position". i News. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  14. "The Public Whip — UK Withdrawal from the EU — Delay Withdrawal to Enable a Further Referendum on Withdrawal to be Held – 14 Mar 2019 at 17:00". www.publicwhip.org.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  15. BBC (26 September 2018). "'General strike' MP Laura Smith got carried away, says Tom Watson". BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  16. "Crewe & Nantwich parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  17. "Conservatives win 8,000 majority in marginal seat". 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  18. "BBC Crewe & Nantwich 2019 General Election Result".
  19. "Election 2019: Job hunt for MPs who lost their seats". BBC News. BBC. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  20. "Former MP 'not ashamed' by Jobcentre visit". BBC News. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  21. Jackson, Matt (28 February 2020). "Former Crewe and Nantwich MP wins seat on Cheshire East Council". Stoke-on-Trent Live. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  22. @LauraSmithMP (13 February 2019). "How many socialists can you fit in a lift? Happy 87th birthday for yesterday to the legend that is Dennis Skinner @RichardBurgon @HackneyAbbott @DanCardenMP @DerbyChrisW #SocialistCampaignGroup" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  23. Richard Adams Education editor. "Abolish Eton: Labour groups aim to strip elite schools of privileges | Education". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Edward Timpson		 Member of Parliament for Crewe and Nantwich
2017–2019		 Succeeded by
Kieran Mullan
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