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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).

Contact them on the parliamentary site →

Scorecard

75.8% Attendance Turns up more often than most MPs who vote
436 Votes cast out of 575 divisions
139 No vote recorded absent, abstaining, paired or unable to attend
12 Against their own party divisions where they voted the other way to most Labour MPs
6 Interests declared 1 at £5,000 or more
143 Debates spoken in 80 written questions tabled

Ranked 260 of 638 MPs for attendance. The median of MPs who vote is 72.3%. 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

575 divisions since they took their seat, newest first.

DateQuestionTheir voteResult
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
7 Jul 2026 Opposition Day: Early release of prisoners No vote 115–0
6 Jul 2026 National Security (State Threats) Bill: motion to agree to Lords Amendment 1 Aye 394–85
1 Jul 2026 Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Bill Committee: New Clause 5 No vote 177–308
1 Jul 2026 Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Bill Committee: New Clause 4 No vote 173–282
1 Jul 2026 Taxation (Energy and Vehicles) Bill Committee: New Clause 2 No vote 80–281
1 Jul 2026 Draft Employment Tribunals Extension of Jurisdiction (England and Wales) (Amendment) Order 2026 deferred division No vote 318–107
1 Jul 2026 Draft Employment Tribunal (Extension of Time Limits) (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 deferred division No vote 322–107
24 Jun 2026 Draft Climate Change Act 2008 (Credit Limit) Order 2026 Aye 330–93
24 Jun 2026 Draft Climate Change Act 2008 (International Aviation and International Shipping) Regulations 2026 Aye 329–94
24 Jun 2026 Draft Carbon Budget Order 2026 Aye 332–94
24 Jun 2026 Customs (Tariff and Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2026 deferred division Aye 323–160
23 Jun 2026 Opposition Day: Puberty blockers No vote 112–283
23 Jun 2026 Opposition Day Motion: Defence spending and readiness - Prime Minister's Amendment Aye 294–110
23 Jun 2026 Opposition day: Defence spending and readiness No 108–307
22 Jun 2026 Armed Forces Bill Report Stage: Amendment 11 No 171–322

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: Costs of a residential course attended by a member of my staff (Great Britain China Centre is a non-departmental body of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), value £1,350
Date received: 22 July 2025 to 25 July 2025
Date accepted: 22 July 2025
Donor status: company, registration 01196043
(Registered 21 August 2025)

On the register since 23 Feb 2026

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:

Sources: Commons Votes API, Members API and the Register of Members' Financial Interests, all published by Parliament under the Open Parliament Licence. This member's register and debate record were last refreshed 3 Aug 2026. How every figure is worked out →

Machine-readable: JSON for this MP.

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