Cat Smith

Catherine Jane "Cat" Smith (born 16 June 1985) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster and Fleetwood since 2015. In September 2015 she was appointed to the Official Opposition frontbench as a Shadow Minister for Women, serving under Kate Green. In June 2016 she was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet, with a new portfolio for Voter Engagement and Youth Affairs.

Born in Barrow-in-Furness, Smith attended local comprehensive schools and Barrow-in-Furness Sixth Form College. She moved to Lancaster in 2003 where she studied at Cartmel College, Lancaster University. She graduated with a BA joint honours degree in Sociology and Gender Studies.

Before entering Parliament, Smith worked for Jeremy Corbyn and as a policy officer for the British Association of Social Workers. She unsuccessfully contested Wyre and Preston North in 2010.

Smith has contributed to publications and news blogs associated with the Labour Party, including LabourList and Tribune. She identifies herself as a Christian, socialist, feminist, republican and trade unionist. She is one of 27 LGBTI MPs elected at the 2015 general election, identifying as bisexual. Smith has stated that she believes Jesus was a radical socialist.

Smith was one of the 36 Labour MPs to nominate Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015 and one of the 14 to support him. She has been critical of the 2016 European Union referendum, saying that younger people preferred to remain in the EU, while the majority result was to leave.

Shadow Minister

Corbyn soon appointed Smith to be Minister for Women in the Shadow Equalities Office, where she served under Kate Green. On 27 June 2016 Smith entered the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Voter Engagement and Youth Affairs. This followed on from a series of resignations of shadow ministers who had lost confidence in Corbyn's leadership. She serves directly under Deputy Leader Tom Watson in the Shadow Cabinet Office (a department in the Opposition frontbench).

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

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 on expenses. In June 2016, Lancashire Constabulary were granted a year-long extension to investigate Smith's election expenses, but in November 2016 they cleared Smith of any wrongdoing and fully exonerated her.

In September 2016 Smith married Ben Soffa, her partner of eleven years.