Vote of 'no confidence' in MP

AT the most recent General Meeting of the Penistone & Stocksbridge Labour CLP held on Friday November 16, a motion of ‘no confidence’ in Angela Smith MP was passed with a majority of 27 votes in favour to 20 against with one abstention.

The motion calls for the vote of ‘no confidence’ to be forwarded to the Chief Whip of the Labour Party and request that he withdraw the whip from Angela.

Angela Smith has represented this CLP since it was created in 2010. Before that she was MP for Sheffield Hillsborough from 2005 to 2010.

In the motion, the CLP noted that in 2015, Angela Smith voted against greater restrictions on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas in National Parks, the Broads, areas of outstanding natural beauty, World Heritage sites, and near points where water is abstracted for domestic and food production purposes.

It also noted that earlier this month at a water industry conference in Manchester that Angela had described Labour’s plans for the return to public ownership of the privatised water industry were, “undeveloped, un-costed and should not be a priority amid so many post-Brexit challenges.”

She denounced the proposals, promoted by John Mc Donnell, as ideological and founded in “the politics of the past.”

The motion also noted that she had written in the press articles that undermine the leadership and the wider party as well as tweeting and retweeting criticism of Jeremy Corbyn.

The CLP say they believe that she has demonstrated that she no longer represents the views of the CLP by her conduct, her actions, and in articles she has written.

They added that

She has been a persistent and visceral critic of Jeremy Corbyn and through her divisive attacks on him she has damaged the Labour Party locally and nationally."

Her articles and comments on Fracking and Privatised Water Companies that are contrary to the Labour Party Manifesto commitments, demonstrate that she has lost touch with the Party and the constituents she was elected to represent."

She has snubbed this CLP very publicly at an event to raise funds for her election campaign."

The relationship of trust and respect that is an essential and fundamental requirement" between an MP and their Constituency Party has broken down, perhaps irrevocably, and as result the CLP has no confidence in Angela Smith to represent its members as our MP.”

Angela Smith responded with statement on Twitter. It read:

I take my responsibilities as a Member of Parliament very seriously and my first priority is always to do my job, to the best of my ability."

It is frankly astonishing that a cabal of hard left members has absorbed everyone’s precious time and energy on an inaccurate and divisive motion of no confidence."

Given that the country is facing its biggest crisis since Suez, one would have thought their attention would be better focused on the huge decision facing the country, a decision that will affect the lives of every one of my constituents for years to come."

I will continue to prioritise our area and my constituents and will not be distracted by internal political posturing such as this.”

Some fellow MPs have defended Angela. Wakefield MP Mary Creagh tweeted:

Sorry to see my friend and Yorkshire neighbour and fellow eco champion Angela Smith MP being treated like this.”

Chuka Umunna posted: “The hard right - Boris, Rees-Mogg, Farage and co - are in the midst of an attempt to hijack UK politics and some UK Labour activists think the priority should be passing votes of no confidence in centre-Left MPs fighting these Brexiters in Parliament. Utterly disgraceful.”