Official portrait of Melanie Ward

Melanie Ward

Labour MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, since 4 July 2024

Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)

Melanie Ward is the Labour MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, and has been an MP continually since 4 July 2024. She currently holds the Government post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office).

Scorecard

76.1% Attendance Turns up more often than most MPs who vote
449 Votes cast out of 590 divisions
141 No vote recorded absent, abstaining, paired or unable to attend
14 Against their own party divisions where they voted the other way to most Labour MPs
5 Interests declared 1 at £5,000 or more
143 Debates spoken in 80 written questions tabled

Ranked 250 of 638 MPs for attendance. The median of MPs who vote is 72.4%. Ministers and front-benchers vote less often than backbenchers for reasons of office rather than absenteeism, and Parliament does not publish reasons for any absence — the ranking is a starting point for a question, not an answer to one.

Voting record

590 divisions since they took their seat, newest first.

DateQuestionTheir voteResult
11 Sep 2026 Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Second Reading against party line No 270–286
11 Sep 2026 Closure motion against party line No 293–218
10 Sep 2026 Social Housing Bill [Lords]: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading No vote 77–292
9 Sep 2026 Draft Plant Health, Seeds, Seed Potatoes and Plant Propagating Material (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026 deferred division Aye 371–100
8 Sep 2026 Health Bill: Report Stage: Amendment 1 No 162–297
8 Sep 2026 Health Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 143 No 106–302
8 Sep 2026 Health Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 142 No 108–357
8 Sep 2026 Health Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 140 No 79–300
7 Sep 2026 Health Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 145 No 170–316
7 Sep 2026 Health Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 6 No 77–317
4 Sep 2026 Motion to sit in private No vote 1–79
2 Sep 2026 Representation of the People Bill: Third Reading Aye 411–102
2 Sep 2026 Representation of the People Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 88 No 85–427
2 Sep 2026 Representation of the People Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 67 No 105–410
2 Sep 2026 Representation of the People Bill: Report Stage: New Clause 65 No 166–346
15 Jul 2026 Draft Code of Practice on Electronic and Workplace Ballots for Statutory Trade Union Ballots deferred division Aye 330–109
15 Jul 2026 Draft Trade Unions (Permissible Means of Voting) and Employment Rights (Unfair Dismissal) (Amendment) Order 2026 deferred division Aye 330–109
14 Jul 2026 Public Office (Accountability) Bill Report Stage: Amendment 19 No 104–412
14 Jul 2026 Public Office (Accountability) Bill Report Stage: Amendment 199 No 102–409
14 Jul 2026 Public Office (Accountability) Bill Report Stage: Amendment 3 No 93–323
13 Jul 2026 Immigration and Asylum Bill: Second Reading Aye 264–90
13 Jul 2026 Immigration and Asylum Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading No 97–358
8 Jul 2026 Draft Town and Country Planning (Discharge of Local Planning Authority Functions) (England) Regulations 2026 deferred division No vote 283–182
8 Jul 2026 Draft Supply of Machinery (Safety) (Amendment etc.) and the EU Machinery Regulation (Enforcement etc. in Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026 deferred division No vote 317–103
8 Jul 2026 Draft Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Establishment of Schools) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026 deferred division No vote 369–102

Declared financial interests

Quoted in full from the Register of Members' Financial Interests. Entries where the largest figure is £5,000 or more are marked. A declaration is not a wrongdoing — the register exists precisely so that these things are visible.

3. Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources

Name of donor: Great Britain China Centre
Address of donor: Kings Buildings, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HQ
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Cost of a two-day non-residential course in London attended by a member of staff (Great Britain China Centre is a non-departmental body of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), value £1,100
Date received: 6 November 2025 to 7 November 2025
Date accepted: 6 November 2025
Donor status: company, registration 01196043
(Registered 24 November 2025)

On the register since 2 Dec 2025

4. Visits outside the UK

Name of donor: Syria Britain Business Council
Address of donor: China Works, Black Prince Rd, London SE1 7SJ
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights (£1481.79), accommodation with meals (£708.48) and travel insurance (£12.00), value £2,202.27
Destination of visit: Syria
Dates of visit: 29 June 2026 to 2 July 2026
Purpose of visit: Attendance at the first conference of the Syria Britain Business Council; meetings with Syrian transitional government ministers, church leaders and NGOs to discuss post-war recovery and reconstruction in Syria.
(Registered 7 July 2026)

On the register since 14 Jul 2026

£5,957

Name of donor: Doha Forum
Address of donor: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Almirqab Tower, West Bay, Doha, Qatar
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights (£5,555), accommodation and meals (£402), value £5,957
Destination of visit: Qatar
Dates of visit: 5 December 2025 to 8 December 2025
Purpose of visit: To participate in the Doha Forum 2025 on diplomacy, dialogue and diversity, including meetings with fellow cross-party parliamentarians, political representations of other countries and Qatari ministers to discuss Qatar’s role in seeking to resolve current regional conflicts.
(Registered 19 December 2025)

On the register since 6 Jan 2026

Name of donor: Stiftung Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz gGmbH
Address of donor: Karolinenplatz 3, 80333 Munich, Germany
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights (£1148.85), accommodation (£697.17), meals and transport (estimated value £400), value £2,246.02
Destination of visit: Saudi Arabia (AlUla)
Dates of visit: 30 September 2025 to 3 October 2025
Purpose of visit: Participation in Munich Leaders Meeting on the Middle East, run by the Munich Security Conference Foundation.
(Registered 23 October 2025)

On the register since 4 Nov 2025

Name of donor: Stiftung Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz gGmbH
Address of donor: Karolinenplatz 3, 80333 Munich, Germany
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights (£1807.22), accommodation (£1141.58), meals (£233.28), additional meals and transport (estimated value £300), value £3,482.08
Destination of visit: United States (New York)
Dates of visit: 17 September 2025 to 21 September 2025
Purpose of visit: Participation in Annual Meeting of Women Parliamentarians Programme run by the Munich Security Conference Foundation.
(Registered 13 October 2025)

On the register since 21 Oct 2025

The same register on parliament.uk →

Debates

143 debates contributed to in total. The ten most recent:

Money declared to them

4 donations accepted personally since 4 Jul 2024, worth £17,640 in total — from the Electoral Commission's register, which is a separate register from the one above. Money given to their party is not counted here; this is money declared to them.

AcceptedRecipientDonorTypeValue
5 Dec 2025 Melanie Ward sitting MP Doha Forum Other Visit £5,957
30 Sep 2025 Melanie Ward sitting MP Stiftung Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz gGm Other Visit £2,246
17 Sep 2025 Melanie Ward sitting MP Stiftung Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz gGm Other Visit £3,482
6 Dec 2024 Melanie Ward sitting MP Doha Forum Other Visit £5,955

Where the public money goes — contracts and donations →


Sources: Commons Votes API, Members API and the Register of Members' Financial Interests, all published by Parliament under the Open Parliament Licence; donations from the Electoral Commission's register. This member's register and debate record were last refreshed 1 Oct 2026. How every figure is worked out →

Machine-readable: JSON for this MP.

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