Hugh Smyth was born in 1941 in the Woodvale Road district of Belfast. He worked at the Short Brothers aerospace factory before entering politics.

Smyth was elected to the Belfast Corporation in 1972 as a representative for Shankill Ward. He was re-elected in the new Belfast City Council and served on council for forty-one years before retiring due to ill health in January 2014.

In the early 1970s, Smyth acted as a public spokesman for the Ulster Volunteer Force. Smyth served in the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly, having been elected as an Independent Unionist. He was also elected to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975.

Smyth was a founding member of the Independent Unionist Group, which changed its name to the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) in 1979. He was leader of the PUP from its inception until 2002.

In 1996, he was awarded an OBE for his services to the community.