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

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
4 Feb 2026 Draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Order 2026 deferred division No vote 392–116
3 Feb 2026 Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill: Second Reading Aye 458–104
28 Jan 2026 Opposition Day: Youth unemployment No vote 91–287
28 Jan 2026 Opposition Day: British Indian Ocean Territory No vote 103–284
28 Jan 2026 Draft Medical Devices (Fees Amendment) Regulations 2026 deferred division No vote 294–108
27 Jan 2026 Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill: Amendment 1 No vote 88–310
27 Jan 2026 Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill: Amendment 2 No vote 61–311
27 Jan 2026 Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill: Amendment 9 No vote 91–378
21 Jan 2026 Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 (Remedial) Order 2025 Aye 373–106
21 Jan 2026 National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill: Third Reading Aye 316–194
21 Jan 2026 National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill Committee: New Clause 5 No 195–317
21 Jan 2026 National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill Committee: Amendment 5 No 191–326
20 Jan 2026 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 6 Aye 347–184
20 Jan 2026 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 5 Aye 347–185
20 Jan 2026 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1 Aye 344–182
20 Jan 2026 Sentencing Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 7 Aye 319–127
14 Jan 2026 Draft Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025 deferred division Aye 301–110
13 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: New Clause 26 No 172–334
13 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: New Clause 9 No 181–335
13 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: Clause 86 stand part Aye 344–173
13 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: New Clause 25 No 187–351
13 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: New Clause 24 No 184–331
13 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: Clause 63 Stand part Aye 348–167
12 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: New Clause 7 No 188–341
12 Jan 2026 Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee: Amendment 3 No 185–344

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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