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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
3 Sep 2025 Opposition day: Hospitality sector No 158–334
3 Sep 2025 Opposition day: Property taxes No 98–335
2 Sep 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: Second Reading Aye 365–164
2 Sep 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: Reasoned Amendment No 167–367
16 Jul 2025 Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment of Section 58 Considerations) Order 2025 (SI, 2025, No. 737) deferred division Aye 333–54
16 Jul 2025 Draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Definition of Newspaper) Order 2025 deferred division Aye 334–54
15 Jul 2025 Opposition Day: Tax No 165–342
15 Jul 2025 Opposition Day: Welfare No 106–440
11 Jul 2025 Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill Report: Amendment 1 No vote 0–47
11 Jul 2025 Motion to sit in private No vote 1–58
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill: Third Reading Aye 336–242
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 38 No 149–334
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: New Clause 8 No 130–443
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 45 No 175–401
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: Clause 2, as amended, and Clause 3 stand part Aye 335–135
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 12 No 105–370
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 50 No 103–416
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 39 No 35–469
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL]: Third Reading Aye 415–98
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL] Report Stage: Amendment 18 No 178–338
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL] Report Stage: New Clause 3 No 86–340
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL] Report Stage: New Clause 1 No 167–346
4 Jul 2025 Motion to sit in private No vote 1–33
2 Jul 2025 Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025 No vote 385–26
2 Jul 2025 Armed Forces Commissioner Bill: Motion to insist on 2A and disagree with LA2B and LA2C No vote 321–158

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:

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 3 Aug 2026. How every figure is worked out →

Machine-readable: JSON for this MP.

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