Karin Smyth
MP
Official portrait, 2020
Shadow Minister for Health
Assumed office
6 September 2023
LeaderKeir Starmer
Shadow Minister for Social Care
Acting
In office
4 December 2021 – 1 November 2022
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byLiz Kendall (Maternity Leave)
Succeeded byLiz Kendall
Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland
In office
10 April 2020 – 26 February 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byStephen Pound
Succeeded byAlex Davies-Jones
Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
In office
19 July 2017 – 9 April 2020
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byCat Smith
Succeeded byAfzal Khan
Member of Parliament
for Bristol South
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byDawn Primarolo
Majority9,859 (17.9%)
Personal details
Born (1964-09-08) 8 September 1964
London, England
Political partyLabour
Children3
Alma materUniversity of East Anglia
University of Bath
WebsiteOfficial website

Karin Marguerite Smyth[1] (born 8 September 1964) is a British Labour Party politician. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol South in 2015.[2]

Early life and career

Born in London,[3] her parents had emigrated from Ireland to England in the 1950s. Smyth was educated at Bishopshalt School, Uxbridge College, the University of East Anglia (BA, 1988) where she was President of the Union of UEA Students, and the University of Bath (MBA, 1995).[4] Smyth worked as an office manager for Bristol West MP Valerie Davey from 1997.[5]

Smyth worked as an NHS manager at Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group.[6] She was a non-executive director of Bristol North PCT from 2002 to 2006.[3]

Parliamentary career

After becoming an MP at the 2015 general election, Smyth became a member of the Public Accounts Committee in July 2015.[7]

On 27 June 2016, she gave support to a series of shadow cabinet resignations aimed at ousting the Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn MP, in an open letter to constituents.[8] She supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[9]

From October 2016 to July 2017, Smyth was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Keir Starmer, Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.[10] From July 2017 to December 2018, she served as Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons[11] and on 30 July 2018 was appointed as a Shadow Minister in Labour's Northern Ireland team.[12]

She attacked the wave of NHS trusts establishing wholly owned companies in 2018, saying that this led to further fragmentation of the NHS and was done purely for tax advantages.[13]

On 28 June 2017, Matthew Niblett was jailed for 14 weeks for threatening to kill Smyth over what he felt was her failure to investigate his case.[14]

Karin Smyth is a Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life.[15]

In the September 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Health.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11780.
  2. ↑ ‘SMYTH, Karin’, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2016
  3. 1 2 "Who I am". Karin Smyth. 28 May 2012. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Karin Smyth - Candidate for Bristol South". Labour Party. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  5. ↑ ""I am determined to improve opportunities for people in Bristol South" - Karin Smyth, Labour's new MP". Labour South West. 3 August 2015. Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  6. ↑ "Karin Smyth to stand for Labour in Bristol South at next election". BBC News. 8 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  7. ↑ "Karin Smyth MP". parliament.uk. UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Karin Smyth adds her name to growing list calling for Corbyn's resignation". ITV News. 27 June 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  9. ↑ "Owen Smith's battlebus arrives in Bristol". Bristol 24/7. 30 August 2016. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  10. ↑ Daly, Patrick (25 January 2017). "Jeremy Corbyn looks set to demand Labour MPs vote for Article 50 - but Bristol MPs aren't impressed". Bristol Post. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  11. ↑ Smyth, Karin (19 July 2017). "Karin Smyth appointed Shadow Deputy Leader of the House". Karin Smyth MP. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  12. ↑ "Karin Smyth and Luke Pollard get new Labour frontbench roles". Labour List. 30 July 2018. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  13. ↑ "Karin Smyth: Do away with tax benefits for wholly owned companies". Health Service Journal. 17 May 2018. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  14. ↑ Morris, Steven (28 June 2017). "Man jailed for threatening to kill Labour MP Karin Smyth". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  15. ↑ "Members". The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  16. ↑ Belger, Tom (5 September 2023). "Labour reshuffle: Starmer unveils six new shadow ministers of state". LabourList. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
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