Lisa Smart is the Liberal Democrat MP for Hazel Grove, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Smart won 17,328 votes, representing 37.7% of the vote. The Labour candidate, Claire Vibert, received 10,828 votes (23.5%), while the Conservative candidate, Paul Athans, secured 9,011 votes (19.6%). Smart was duly elected with a majority of 6,500.

The Hazel Grove constituency, located in Greater Manchester in North West England, was created in 1974. Hazel Grove has historically been a competitive seat between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats (and predecessor Liberals).

Political Career

Smart currently serves on the Liberal Democrat frontbench as Cabinet Office spokesperson (since September 2025) – a cross-departmental role supporting Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, on strategy and preparations for the next general election. Earlier in this parliament, she served as home affairs spokesperson from September 2024 to September 2025.

Smart was chair of the Liberal Democrats parliamentary party from July 2024 to September 2025.

Smart is a member of the speaker’s committee on the Electoral Commission (since November 2024). The committee is the statutory body of MPs that oversees the work and budget of the UK’s independent elections watchdog, the Electoral Commission.

Smart delivered her maiden speech on 25 July 2024 during a debate on the code of conduct and modernisation committee.

In it, she said: “I joined the Lib Dems and got involved in politics because shouting at the television was not bringing about the changes that we need. My constituents have been very clear with me that their top priority is our local health service.

“They should not have a hospital that is literally falling down, they should not have to wait months or years for treatment, and they should not have to struggle to care for their loved ones.”

She added: “Before deciding that shouting at the telly was not bringing about the changes that I wanted to see in the world and that standing for elected office was the way to be part of that change, I worked in a business as a director of client relations – my clients were big pension funds, charities and foundations.

“I was then the chief exec of a charity, educating women and girls in the developing world. For the past eight years, I have also been lucky enough to represent some of my constituents as an elected councillor for Bredbury Green and Romiley on Stockport council, a role I have loved.”

Before entering parliament, Smart accumulated extensive experience in local government. She was first elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor on Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council in 2016. She served as the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group and stepped down as a councillor in 2024.

Smart stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Hazel Grove in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Smart stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Merton and Wandsworth in the 2012 London Assembly election.

Political views

The Liberal Democrats (or Lib Dems) are a liberal political party, occupying the centre to centre-left ground in British politics.

The preamble to the Lib Dem constitution begins: “The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.”

The Liberal Democrat autumn conference in 2021 ratified a policy paper entitled What Liberal Democrats Believe. The paper, an attempt to expand on the constitution’s preamble, was framed around seven “principles and values”.

The party’s core values were described as “liberty, equality, democracy, community, internationalism and environmentalism.”

Smart was endorsed by local groups of the cross-party organisation Compass during the 2024 general election. Compass is a thinktank and campaign group. As part of its “Win as One” campaign in the 2024 election, local Compass groups backed a slate of progressive candidates who had pledged their support for electoral reform. The central aim of the initiative was to elect a “caucus” of MPs who would champion the cause of replacing the first past the post electoral system.

Smart is listed as vice chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

In May 2026, Smart signed an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill, calling on the government to establish a “national commission on electoral reform”. Tabled by Alex Sobel as chair of the fair elections APPG, the amendment aimed to force a rethink of the first past the post voting system. At the time, Sobel described FPTP as “one of the biggest examples of a broken status quo in UK politics.” He invited colleagues to join this “common sense call to take a fresh look at how parliament is elected in modern Britain.”

In December 2024, Smart voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Brexit and Europe

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Smart voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained.

Assisted dying

Smart voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Smart voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Before Politics

Smart grew up in Lytham St Annes in the North West. She attended St Bede’s Catholic High School.

Smart studied mathematics at Durham University and later obtained a master’s degree from the London Business School. She was the first of her family to go to university.

Before entering frontline politics, Smart was director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

Personal Life

Smart lives in her Hazel Grove constituency.

Trivia

Smart won the Hazel Grove seat on her fourth attempt as the Liberal Democrat candidate in 2024.