Bears fan, Conservative, tender consultant, serial volunteer. Formerly Bristol City Councillor (2018-24), Candidate for West of England Mayor (2025)

Bristol, England
Joined February 2009
There's no such thing as tax without consequence. It might be tempting to think that more tax on banks is a great idea because they can afford it and it means we won't have to pay. It's free money, right? Wrong.... bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c32l…
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If the Chancellor takes another £2bn from banks, that's £2bn that they can't lend to growing businesses. It's £2bn that isn't available as dividends to the pension funds which not only pay all our pensions, but invest in the UK economy...
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Less lending and investment means fewer businesses, less growth and fewer jobs. The tax may be targetted at banks, but we all pay the price. The bottom line is that the UK is already over-taxed, and the economy can't bear the weight. We must urgently cut spending.
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Steve Smith retweeted
Your bank will no more pay bank taxes than your house pays the council tax, your TV set the licence fee or your car the vehicle excise duty. All taxes are paid by human beings.
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Steve Smith retweeted
Always be wary of underinformed lists denouncing those who don’t vote (rather than those who vote against). Often MPs are absent on a day for all sorts of reasons - and this list for eg includes two Deputy Speakers (Nokes and Ghani) who *cannot* vote.
16 Tory MP's didn't vote to leave the ECHR today: Stuart Anderson Mr Peter Bedford Saqib Bhatti Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown John Cooper Alberto Costa Harriet Cross David Davis Sir Roger Gale Ms Nusrat Ghani Helen Grant Simon Hoare Caroline Nokes Sir Alec Shelbrooke Rishi Sunak Sir Desmond Swayne
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Several listed MPs had no vote recorded, but two (Ghani, Nokes) are Deputy Speakers who cannot vote. Others including Hoare were paired. No Conservatives voted against the motion, which lost 309-113. votes.parliament.uk/Votes/Commons/… order-order.com/2026/10/14/sev…
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This @UKLabour MP seems genuinely to believe that the only way people could have a different opinion to her is if they'd been tricked and lied to. Sheer contempt for those she's supposed to serve.
I'm angry that so many of my constituents who voted to Leave the EU did so because they were bombarded by lies. That’s why @andyburnham’s announcement of a National Centre for Information Defence matters, fighting foreign state influence in our democracy.
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Steve Smith retweeted
YouGov - Sky - Times voting intention LAB 24%(-3) CON 23%(+3) RefUK 21%(-1) LDEM 12%(+1) GRN 11%(nc) Oct 11-12 Pollster note: The changes are within the margin of error, so it's difficult to distinguish signal from noise, but I suspect there is some degree of "conference bounce" there, with the Tories getting a boost from their coverage, and Labour declining again as the temporary impact of their own conference fades. It may well be a temporary Tory boost, but for the record it means this is the first time that we have had Reform back in third place since 2024 (it’s technically the first time since early 2024 – but we didn’t poll between the election and January 2025 while we were reviewing methods, so we don’t know exactly when Reform overtook the Tories).
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John Healey must get a grip in his first Budget, not kick the can down the road again. That’s why we Conservatives are setting him five simple tests. We need difficult decisions to make Britain prosperous again.
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Why @Conservatives don't care about the colour of @KemiBadenoch's skin, or anyone elses... stevesmithbristol.substack.c…
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It was fascinating to attend a fringe meeting with @AllianceLGB on this subject during the @Conservatives conference and hear the concerns first-hand. Do take a few minutes to have a look (and a think).
A bill claiming to protect gay people is being opposed by a gay rights charity. Wondering why? Hear the experiences. Read the arguments. Judge for yourself. lgballiance.org.uk/conversio… #ItsOkayToBeGay
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AIM shares and private businesses were IHT free until Labour cut Business Property Relief in April. We've already pledged to restore it in full. So under our plans there'd be no IHT penalty for backing a growing business over buying a bigger house.
I really like Kemi Badenoch, but today’s proposal on inheritance tax makes no sense to me. If your principal private residence is completely free of IHT when passed to your children, it creates a huge incentive to maximise the amount of wealth tied up in your home. Why invest in AIM shares, private companies or other productive assets and potentially pay IHT, when you can put the money into a bigger house and pass it on tax-free? Tax policy should encourage investment in productive assets, not create an even bigger incentive to pour wealth into residential property.
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Steve Smith retweeted
This isn’t the David Campbell Bannerman I know, like and respect. Reform bosses must be turning the screws on former Conservatives. It’s desperation and won’t work but so disappointing to see friends and former allies reduced to this.
Which country is Olukemi seeking to represent? She made so much of her nationality yesterday.
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Steve Smith retweeted
Darren Jones Held Responsible for Scrapping ‘His Majesty’ From Government Branding order-order.com/2026/10/08/d…
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Steve Smith retweeted
In the wake of @Conservatives conference in Birmingham, I highly recommend "The Right Way," @KemiBadenoch's excellent booklet setting out her principles on economic policy, energy, defence, and immigration.
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Steve Smith retweeted
The age of principled, common sense politics is back 🇬🇧
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Last week I called Andy Burnham's speech consequential, but it was very much full, as Ed Davey said, full of 'definitely maybes' by 2040. @KemiBadenoch delivered a belter of a speech today, full of sparkle, but also setting out basic Conservative principles and full of policy meat. The IHT promise will get the headlines but there was far more to it than that. The stuff about the Reform "weirdos" and ruling our reuniting the right should get attention, plus the passage on her ethnicity and what it means to be English, where she absolutely socked it to Suella Braverman without naming her. The passage on how to bring about growth was especially strong. I've been attending party conferences for 40 years. This one got off to a slow start, but ended with the party members going home with a spring in their step. Rarely, if ever, in those 40 years, have I seen a party so united behind its leader - both MPs and party members. And to achieve that within less than two years of becoming leader is quite an achievement. Yes, last year's conference speech was a turning point, but so was her firing of Robert Jenrick. With one decisive step, she ripped out the cancer, and has never looked back. It's now up to her shadow cabinet to demonstrate that this isn't a one woman party.
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This was a big, serious speech packed with vision and policy. If you disagree with Kemi's vision, feel free to explain why. Pretending not to have heard it is just a bit weird.
Kemi’s speech today confirmed what we already knew, she has no vision for the country.
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Steve Smith retweeted
This seems a strange take - agree or disagree with @KemiBadenoch’s message, there was a lot precisely on her vision for the country.
Kemi’s speech today confirmed what we already knew, she has no vision for the country.
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