In 2016, Owen Smith, the Member of Parliament for Pontypridd, challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the Labour Party, triggering an election in the United Kingdom, one year following the previous leadership ballot. His candidacy was announced in a statement on 13 July 2016, in which he declared himself to be a supporter of many of Corbyn's policies but that Corbyn did not possess the qualities necessary to win the next general election.^[2] He pledged to prevent the party from splitting and to lead Labour back into government.

Smith initially faced Angela Eagle as a fellow challenger to Jeremy Corbyn, but her withdrawal from the race on 19 July 2016, resulting from Smith's stronger level of support in the Parliamentary Labour Party, left him as the sole candidate facing the incumbent.^[3]

Smith is anti-austerity and an opponent of the Conservative's public spending cuts since 2010. At the launch of his party leadership campaign in July 2016, he described himself as someone who is also "pro-prosperity".^[4]

Smith has said that Labour must be overtly pro-immigration, even if it means losing votes to UKIP. He said Labour should champion the benefits of immigration such as helping economic growth and staffing public services. Previously Smith had suggested that immigration put pressure on wages.^[14]