By John Baron
Pudsey Reform councillor Trish Smith has announced she will not seek re-election next May.
Councillor Smith has represented Pudsey since being elected as a Conservative in both 2019 and 2023 local elections, before resigning from the party in 2024 and becoming an independent councillor.
She switched to Reform in May 2025, becoming the party’s first sitting representative on Leeds City Council.
In a lengthy statement on social media, Cllr Smith pointed to a number of reasons for her decision.
She said: “This has not been an easy decision. Representing Pudsey has been an enormous privilege, and I remain incredibly grateful to everyone who has placed their trust in me and allowed me to serve the community I care so deeply about.
“There isn’t one single reason behind my decision. Quite simply, I have reached a point in my life where I know the time is right to step back.
“Being a councillor isn’t an easy role, and nor should it be. It is a privilege, but it also asks a great deal of you and your family.
“Birthdays are missed. Christmases, bank holidays and evenings are interrupted. Plans change because somebody needs help. Your phone doesn’t know it’s Sunday, and you never completely switch off from the responsibility that comes with representing thousands of people.
“There is, however, another side to public life that I don’t think we should shy away from talking about.
“If you put yourself forward for elected office, you should expect scrutiny. You should expect criticism. You should expect people to disagree with your decisions, challenge your record and tell you, sometimes very directly, that they think you are wrong.
“That’s democracy, and I have never had a problem with it.
“What isn’t democracy is years of personal attacks, insults and abuse directed at the person rather than the decisions they make.
“We have reached a strange point in public life where some people seem to believe that putting your name on a ballot paper means surrendering your right to be treated like a human being. It doesn’t.
“Criticise my politics. Criticise a decision I’ve made. Challenge me at a meeting. Write to me and tell me I’ve got something completely wrong. Those things come with the job. Personal abuse and intimidation do not.”
Cllr Smith said in a recent incident she had been ‘followed through Pudsey’.
“I was terrified and rarely go out alone now,” she added. “There is no clever or more diplomatic way of putting it than that.
“At a time when we have all seen the very real consequences that threats and violence can have for people in public life, being followed and wondering about somebody’s intentions is not something you simply shrug off when you get home.
“Nobody standing for election, of any party or none, should have to wonder whether the person behind them is simply walking the same way or whether they need to be worried about what happens next.
“There is an important distinction between holding elected representatives to account and trying to intimidate them. If we lose sight of that distinction, good people will simply decide that putting themselves and their families through public life isn’t worth it, and our democracy will be poorer for it.”
Speaking of her time as a councillor, she added: “I will readily admit that I have not always made the right decisions. I don’t think anybody who spends years in public life could honestly claim that they have.
“There are decisions I would make differently with the benefit of hindsight, things I could have handled better and occasions when what I believed was the right course of action didn’t produce the outcome I had hoped for.
“However I can say, truthfully and without hesitation, that the decisions I made were made because I genuinely believed they were the right ones to help me and would ultimately benefit the community I was elected to represent.
“That didn’t always make me popular, but I would rather look back knowing that I occasionally got something wrong while thinking for myself, than know I had simply gone along with something I didn’t believe in because it was easier. You elect a councillor to exercise judgement, not to avoid difficult decisions.”
Cllr Smith also pointed to health issues.
“Being a councillor deserves the time, energy and commitment to do the job properly. I have always believed that if you are going to ask people to put their trust in you, you owe it to them to give the role everything you can.
“There comes a point though, when you have to be honest with yourself about what you are able to give. For me, that point has come.”
She added: “For now, I simply want to thank everyone who has supported me, worked alongside me, challenged me constructively, stopped me in the street for a chat, trusted me with their problems and, most importantly, trusted me to represent them.
“It has been an enormous privilege. I remain every bit as committed to Pudsey as I was when I first put my name on a ballot paper. I’m simply ready for the next chapter.”
The 2027 local elections are due to be held in early May.
All the best for you Trish… Enjoy your time without pressures of political life.
If you still want to help people, let me know. Maybe I can help with something that works around your existing commitments.
While her move to Reform was ill judged I’ve always found her hard working and a decent and dedicated councillor who put the people of Pudsey first. I don’t usually comment on things like this, but the Facebook narrative in Pudsey is so controlled by certain individuals.
As a member of Pudsey Labour Party, I’d like to thank Councillor Trish Smith for her service to Pudsey and, in particular, for the support she has given residents facing difficulties.
When I was out campaigning in support of our Labour candidate, I ran into Trish several times. I remember introducing Riaz to her and the warm, friendly handshake they shared. I also remember giving Trish a hug when she seemed isolated and short of support from some of her party colleagues.
Pudsey Labour continues to support residents across the ward. Without a Labour councillor for Pudsey, Tyersal and Swinnow, that work has sometimes been challenging. On several occasions, we referred residents’ casework to Cllr Smith, and we are grateful for the help she provided.
I felt sorry for Trish when she left the Conservative Party amid rumours of bullying. I was genuinely shocked when Trish later joined ReformUK Ltd. I had never thought of her as racist, and when I raised my concerns, she told me she wasn’t. I believed her, though I struggled to understand her decision, given my serious concerns about Reform UK’s rhetoric and its approach to minorities.
By then, we had a Labour MP, and the constituency office in Bramley is excellent in helping Pudsey residents. In the last couple of days alone, I referred four issues to the office and have already received answers on three.
I’d also like to acknowledge Trish’s partner, Damon, who has supported her throughout. Friends of mine who are councillors often speak about how important their partners’ support is. Even when that support is mostly at home, it helps councillors carry out their responsibilities to residents.
Thank you, Cllr Trish Smith, for your service to our community.
Gary Lemal
Member of Pudsey Labour Party
Typically labour, Reform racists???
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
I understand Trish Smith’s decision and I wish her well. I was Labour candidate in Pudsey in May and unfortunately the atmosphere was toxic with a level of abuse I’ve never known before. To be clear, none of this came from the other candidates, their parties or activists but from keyboard warriors on social media platforms and anonymous letter writers (one individual sent about half a dozen each comprised of several pages full of racism and unhinged comments). This wasn’t political knockabout which is to be expected but something much darker and which has a corrosive effect on the recipients. My own health wasn’t particularly good following a cardiac event and surgery and a combination of the above plus my move to adapted sheltered accommodation led me to the conclusion that the 2026 election would be my last. It’s a sad way to go out after 40 plus years of community activism but it does feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me. I now wake up in a safe space surrounded by protected woodland and am able to take things easy without worrying about who might post what caustic comment next on one of the tech bros rage bait platforms. I would though like to conclude by thanking all the party volunteers who helped throughout my campaign, the Pudsey voters who went to the polls whoever they supported and the elected representatives I’ve engaged with over many decades, there are many more good than bad out there and it’s just a pity that a minority who are essentially cranks are having their voices disproportionately amplified by modern technology. I’ll leave it there and get back to my quiet life watching the foxes that share this woodland space with me.