Cambridge City Council’s next leader Anna Smith: ‘Why I was drawn to life in politics’
For Anna Smith, work has never been about money or an easy life, it’s about trying to help the people who need it the most.
Whether that’s sorting out something as a councillor or helping a young person to make the best of their talents. “I always remember how dad was treated,” she says.
Next month, Cllr Smith is due to succeed Lewis Herbert as leader of Cambridge City Council after she was elected to head up the political group.
Cllr Smith, who represents the Coleridge ward, will be formally proposed as the new leader at an extra council meeting in November.
The 48-year-old is passionate about social justice, something sparked after her dad, an electrician, had to give up work due to ME when she was in primary school.
“At the time no-one really understood ME and a lot of people just thought sufferers were stressed or ‘malingering’,” she tells the Cambridge Independent. “And the national benefits system was getting much more punitive – it increasingly felt that people were trying to catch him out – to ‘prove’ that he was really able to work. And he would have given anything to have been able to have gone back to work.
“My parents had to work really hard to make every penny count, especially as mum had to give up her teaching job to be with dad more. But it wasn’t just the money – it was the lack of respect. I don’t remember anyone, even the people who were supportive, actually asking him what he wanted to happen, or how he thought things could be improved.
“And when he was in a wheelchair it was even more shocking – people would talk to whoever was pushing the chair about him as if he wasn’t there – I really was asked as a teenager several times if he took sugar, or whether he wanted a drink.
“That’s affected me hugely. It’s why I joined the Labour Party. It shaped the kind of work I wanted to go into – I never wanted it to be about the money or an easy life. It was about trying to help people who needed it.
“And I always remember how dad was treated. I always try to make sure I never do that to anyone I work alongside – everyone deserves respect and everyone has something to offer. It doesn’t matter what their status is, or whether they are going through a tough period right now.”
Oxford-educated Cllr Smith trained in Cambridge to be a teacher, and taught history, classics and archaeology at Hills Road Sixth Form College for 13 years, where she was a middle leader, specialising in pastoral support and guidance. She went on to become deputy head at Parkside Federation, teaching at Coleridge and Parkside and setting up Parkside Sixth. She now works as an education adviser.
But for Cllr Smith going to university was not just her, but for the people who didn’t have an opportunity to.
She says: “No-one in my family had ever gone to university, and the stories I heard about family members who had so much potential but were never able to fulfil it always stuck with me. My gran, for instance, won a place at the local grammar school, but her family couldn’t afford the uniform.
“Growing up, even before dad got ill, there was a sense that education was a massive privilege and the ‘ticket out’ of tough times.”
Cllr Smith is married to fellow councillor Mike Todd-Jones, and moved to Cambridge in her 30s after growing up in Bishop’s Stortford.
“Cambridge is very much my home,” she says, “For me, it’s vital that a councillor, and a council leader, is a part of the community, and I particularly love when I knock on a door and meet someone I taught years ago.”
Cllr Smith was elected to represent Romsey ward on the city council in 2015. She was re-elected as city councillor for Coleridge ward in May.
She was elected as executive councillor for streets and open spaces in 2016, and executive councillor for communities in 2018. She has also previously been lead councillor for cycling. In her executive role, Cllr Smith has worked to build better communities, including helping with the city’s pandemic response, working with officers on support networks and providing funds. She was also involved laying on events such as the free Music in the Park series.
Earlier this year, she led the writing of Labour’s city manifesto for the May elections and says she “absolutely committed to that vision for our city”.
She says: “We will still be emphasising our four main priorities to help us build One Cambridge, Fair for All: tackle poverty and inequality and promote food justice; achieve a net zero council and address the climate and biodiversity emergencies; build a new generation of council homes and reduce homelessness, and deliver essential services in the face of Tory government cuts.
“We’ve got a fantastic team, with so many talents and so much experience, and I’ll be working closely with fellow councillors and our officers as we continue to put our vision into practice.
“Things are going to be tough over the next few years. We’re dealing with the impact of the ongoing pandemic and the government’s shambolic handling of Brexit, as well as continued government austerity. We’re still waiting to get paid back for everything extra we spent during the lockdown, and there’s the knock-on effects of other government actions too, such as the rise in national insurance and the cuts to universal credit.”
Cllr Smith’s appointment comes as the authority revealed it must make savings of £7.5m by 2026 to balance the books.
She says she will be working with Cambridge Labour MP Daniel Zeichner and Combined Authority mayor Dr Nik Johnson to make sure residents’ voices are heard.
“One of our biggest priorities will need to be thinking about how, as a council, we make the best use of the resources we have. We’ve already started those discussions. Because if we get the finances right, it helps everything else,” she explains.
“We’ve already done some really great work in that regard – our pandemic response, and our food hubs, is a great example. Gone are the days, if they ever existed, when councils thought they were the experts on everything – genuine teamwork has to be a way forward. And that includes working with residents, who are the real experts, rather than simply thinking about what we do to and for them, and to make sure we hear the voices of all residents, and not just those who shout the loudest.”
Cllr Smith also acknowledges that the “twin threats of poverty and the climate crisis can’t be put to one side whilst we focus on all this”.
“Our anti-poverty strategy already sets out how we need to move things forward. Working together as a community and really trying to address the causes of poverty and coming up with long-term sustainable approaches, rather than simply addressing short-term needs, although of course we must make sure that happens too,” she explains. “We have a really committed team working to address our climate and biodiversity crises. We’ve done so much, from promoting the Cambridge climate change charter to our ‘passivhaus’ council home pilot, from our work to protect chalk streams to cutting emissions in our council buildings. But there’s so much more to do.”
But Cllr Smith says: “I am taking up the leadership of the council during tough times. But I don’t do it alone. I do it building on the wise and progressive leadership of Lewis Herbert. I do it with a fantastic group of council officers, a wonderful city community, and other Labour leaders, such the mayor and our MP. And I do it alongside a really superb team of councillors who are working so hard for our city. Our vision is for One Cambridge, Fair for All, and we’ll carry on working towards that together.”
Lewis Herbert is stepping down after more than seven years in the role, but will remain as a ward councillor for Coleridge.
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