Smith identifies as a
democratic socialist. In a July 2016 interview with
The Guardian he stated, "I'm someone who believes that we live in a capitalist society and that the Labour Party is about trying to achieve socialism within that ... Ameliorating the situation, not overthrowing it by revolution." In an interview with
Channel 4 News, Smith specified his position as follows: "I am on the left of the Labour Party, I share many of Jeremy's values but I think I can talk about modernising those values". He has named
Nye Bevan, who served as Minister of Health (1945–1951), as his political hero. He is a member of
Labour Friends of Israel.
Economic issues Smith claims he opposes
austerity and has been strongly critical of
Chancellor George Osborne's plan of
public spending cuts. As
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Smith attacked the government's
welfare reforms, calling the
bedroom tax "unlawful and discriminatory". He followed the party whip by abstaining on the
Welfare Reform and Work bill at its
second reading on 20 July 2015, after voting for an amendment that set out the party's objections to aspects of it. On 27 October, Smith followed the party whip by voting against the bill at its
third reading. In regard to tax, Smith promised to reverse cuts in Corporation Tax due to take place up until 2020 whilst reversing the cuts made to Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax in the Summer Budget. At the launch of his party leadership campaign in July 2016, he proposed that £200 million be invested to "rebuild Britain", defined by the
BBC as "building new infrastructure and council housing". In an interview with
The Guardian in mid-July, Smith said that housing – doubling the number of homes built – would be an important part of his platform.
Employment In late July 2016, Smith pledged that, if elected as Leader of the Labour Party, he would ban
zero-hour contracts and end the salary freeze for public sector workers, stating that "the public sector pay freeze cannot continue while the costs – of housing and heating, transport and childcare – continue to rise". He said he would also reintroduce
Wage Councils for hotel, shop and care workers, most of which were abolished during the 1980s and 1990s. He said about the councils that "I think there's a real case for re-inventing modern wage councils, operating sector by sector, looking at the specific terms and conditions in individual sectors and arguing for better terms and wages for workers in those sectors ... They are very powerful way in which you have an independent debate about the right wage levels and argue in that forum for better terms and conditions". In his 2016 leadership bid, Smith released proposals for policies aimed at improving
workers' rights, such as a repeal of the "Trade Unions Act" and a commitment to ensure workers' representation on remuneration committees. Smith also proposed replacing the current
Department for Work and Pensions with a new 'Ministry for Labour' and a revived Department for Social Security.
European Union Smith supported the campaign for the UK to
remain in the
European Union, at the
referendum on Britain's membership in June 2016. After the referendum, Smith said that those who had voted to leave the EU had done so "because they felt a sense of loss in their communities, decline, cuts that have hammered away at vital public services and they haven't felt that any politicians, certainly not the politicians they expect to stand up for them, the Labour Party, has been standing up for them." His recommendation was to "put in place concrete policies that will bring real improvements to people's lives so I'm talking about a British New Deal for every part of Britain ..." On 13 July 2016, following the vote to
leave the EU, he pledged that he would press for an early general election or offer a further referendum on the final 'Brexit' deal drawn up by the new prime minister, were he to be elected
Labour leader. He also said: "I don't think we should accept we're on a definite path out. I think we need to make sure people are satisfied". In the series of Parliamentary votes on Brexit in March 2019, Smith voted against the Labour Party whip and in favour of an amendment tabled by members of
The Independent Group for a second public vote.
NHS During a speech in
South Yorkshire in July 2016, he said he wanted to create a tax on the richest 1% in society, which would be at a rate of 15% on
unearned income for earners over £150,000 a year, which would help to fund the
NHS. He said that this would raise £3 billion for the health service. He then went on to say that he would give the NHS an extra 4% funding per year.
Nuclear defence When interviewed on the
Today programme in July 2016, Smith revealed that he used to be a member of the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and "fundamentally wants the world to be without nuclear bombs." He has described himself as being a "sceptic" of the
Trident nuclear programme and as favouring a
multilateralist approach to
nuclear disarmament (a position he noted as being
Bevanite). In 2016, he stated that he would vote to renew Trident, saying: "I want a world without nuclear weapons altogether, but I don't think we hasten that by divesting."
Military interventions In 2006, Smith said while discussing the
Iraq War that "I thought at the time the tradition of the Labour Party and the tradition of left-wing engagement to remove dictators was a noble, valuable tradition". He was amongst the 557 MPs who voted in favour of the
UN-backed
air strikes on Libya in 2011. In December 2015, Smith sided with the Labour leadership by opposing the government's plans for military intervention in the
Syrian civil war. He called for lessons to be learned from past intervention in the Middle East and a more diplomatic approach to be pursued instead. ==Personal life==