Angela Evans Smith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other persons named Angela Smith, see Angela Smith (disambiguation).

Angela Evans Smith (born 7 January 1959, London) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She is Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament for Basildon, and was first elected in 1997. She is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Smith previously worked for the League Against Cruel Sports. She was a junior Northern Ireland minister and sponsored the Waste Minimisation Act, as well as playing an important role in forcing the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 through Parliament. She received considerable local opposition, before leaving office in Northern Ireland, for sponsoring the Education (NI) Order which proposes ending academic selection in Northern Ireland. The Order is opposed by many who consider Northern Ireland's education system one of the United Kingdom's most successful. It is expected that the Order will come before the House of Commons and House of Lords in May 2006.

[edit] Current ministerial brief

When the Office of Deputy Prime Minister was broken up during the May 2006 cabinet reshuffle, Smith was appointed as Fire Service Minister under the new Department for Communities and Local Government. The previous incumbent was Jim Fitzpatrick, he had been an FBU official and firefighter in London.

Smith was previously a councillor and member of the fire authority of the county of Essex. ^[1]