Julian Smith.

One of the more independent-minded Conservatives, Julian Smith has twice broken with his party this Parliament — backing the generational tobacco ban at Third Reading in March 2025, and voting in June 2025 to extend subsidies for large-scale biomass generation, a stance that put him well to the left of most Conservative colleagues on energy policy. That biomass vote is consistent with data showing he sits 39 points above his party average on energy security — a notably distinctive position. More recently he has voted in line with the Conservative mainstream, opposing Labour's planning delegation regulations, the academy school rollback, and the extension of employment tribunal time limits.

At 72% voting participation, Smith is modestly below the Commons average, and at 99.5% party alignment he is broadly loyal despite those two headline rebellions. His speeches — 118 contributions across 90 debates — cluster around economy and jobs, defence, local government, and crime. The stance data underlines his Conservative orthodoxy: he votes against progressive taxation and the government agenda in almost every recorded instance, while scoring highly on parliamentary scrutiny, Lords scrutiny, and backing for business. His deviation scores suggest genuine interest in the Windsor Framework and whistleblower protection, both above his party's norm.

In constituency terms, Smith has been visibly active: raising local safety concerns in the Commons, challenging the Education Secretary on statutory autism training, opposing a proposed North Yorkshire tourism tax, and pressing for compensation for abuse survivors. Local news coverage over the past 90 days is broadly neutral in tone. He holds no committee seats, which limits his formal scrutiny role, but his speech volume suggests he compensates through debate contributions. He served as Northern Ireland Secretary from 2019 to 2020, which likely explains his above-average engagement with Windsor Framework questions.