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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
2 Dec 2025 Budget Resolution No. 51: Inheritance tax (pension interests) Aye 364–167
2 Dec 2025 Budget Resolution No. 50: Inheritance tax (limiting agricultural and business property reliefs etc) Aye 327–182
2 Dec 2025 Budget Resolution No. 28: Capital gains tax (employee-ownership trusts) Aye 362–164
2 Dec 2025 Budget Resolution No. 9: Basic rate limit and personal allowance for tax years 2028-29 to 2030-31 Aye 348–176
2 Dec 2025 Budget Resolution No. 5: Income tax (savings rate for future years) Aye 369–166
2 Dec 2025 Budget Resolution No. 4: Income tax (dividend rates) Aye 371–166
25 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: Third Reading Aye 322–179
25 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: New Clause 80 No 187–320
25 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: New Clause 69 No 189–320
25 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: New Clause 17 No 87–321
24 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: Amendment 25 No 99–367
24 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: Amendment 85 No 57–309
24 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: New Clause 29 No 74–311
24 Nov 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill Report Stage: New Clause 2 No 158–318
19 Nov 2025 Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 37 Aye 326–92
19 Nov 2025 Draft Radio Equipment (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2025 deferred division Aye 376–16
18 Nov 2025 Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Second Reading Aye 320–105
18 Nov 2025 Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Opposition Reasoned Amendment No 165–327
17 Nov 2025 Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill: Committee: Amendment 5 No 147–318
17 Nov 2025 Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill: Committee: Amendment 4 No 143–318
13 Nov 2025 Planning and Infrastructure Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 40 No vote 244–132
13 Nov 2025 Planning and Infrastructure Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 39 No vote 250–133
13 Nov 2025 Planning and Infrastructure Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 38 No vote 252–130
13 Nov 2025 Planning and Infrastructure Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 37 No vote 254–129
13 Nov 2025 Planning and Infrastructure Bill: motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 33 No vote 257–128

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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