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Official portrait of Helen Whately

Helen Whately

Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, since 7 May 2015

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Helen Whately is the Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, and has been an MP continually since 7 May 2015. She currently undertakes the role of Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Contact them on the parliamentary site →

Scorecard

69.7% Attendance Below the median of MPs who vote
401 Votes cast out of 575 divisions
174 No vote recorded absent, abstaining, paired or unable to attend
1 Against their own party divisions where they voted the other way to most Conservative MPs
8 Interests declared 6 at £5,000 or more
588 Debates spoken in 537 written questions tabled

Ranked 371 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
22 Jun 2026 Armed Forces Bill Report Stage: New Clause 22 No vote 74–323
22 Jun 2026 Armed Forces Bill Report Stage: New Clause 11 Aye 104–391
22 Jun 2026 Armed Forces Bill Report Stage: New Clause 4 Aye 164–311
17 Jun 2026 National Security (State Threats) Bill Committee: New Clause 3 No vote 144–244
17 Jun 2026 National Security (State Threats) Bill Committee: Amendment 13 No vote 135–258
17 Jun 2026 National Security (State Threats) Bill Committee: Amendment 8 No vote 143–249
17 Jun 2026 National Security (State Threats) Bill Committee: Amendment 3 No vote 85–317
17 Jun 2026 National Security (State Threats) Bill: Allocation of Time motion No vote 233–94
16 Jun 2026 Draft Clean Air Zones Central Services (Fees) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 No 262–86
16 Jun 2026 Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill Remaining Stages: Amendment 3 Aye 162–246
16 Jun 2026 Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill Remaining Stages: New Clause 14 Aye 151–258
16 Jun 2026 Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill Remaining Stages: New Clause 13 No vote 77–255
15 Jun 2026 Royal Albert Hall Bill [Lords]: Revival No vote 24–37
10 Jun 2026 Railways Bill: Third Reading No 278–149
10 Jun 2026 Railways Bill Remaining Stages: Amendment 148 Aye 155–279
10 Jun 2026 Railways Bill Remaining Stages: Amendment 143 Aye 167–266
10 Jun 2026 Railways Bill Remaining Stages: New Clause 1 No vote 77–271
9 Jun 2026 Draft Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (Amendment) Order 2026 No 356–86
9 Jun 2026 Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill Committee: New Clause 4 Aye 157–287
9 Jun 2026 Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill Committee: New Clause 12 Aye 94–297
9 Jun 2026 Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill Committee: Amendment 20 Aye 90–290
8 Jun 2026 Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill Committee: New Clause 8 Aye 145–251
8 Jun 2026 Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill Committee: New Clause 2 No vote 65–251
8 Jun 2026 Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill Committee: Amendment 12 Aye 81–266
3 Jun 2026 Draft Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2026 deferred division No 302–155

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.

2. (a) Support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation

Name of donor: Benjamin Tansey
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £3,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a researcher to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 30 June 2026)

On the register since 14 Jul 2026

£7,500

Name of donor: Richard Oldfield
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £7,500 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 25 March 2026)

On the register since 14 Apr 2026

£5,000

Name of donor: Lord Michael Farmer
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 25 March 2026)

On the register since 14 Apr 2026

£7,500

Name of donor: Richard Oldfield
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £7,500 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 5 January 2026)

On the register since 25 Mar 2026

£10,000

Name of donor: Edward Sells
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £10,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist my work as a Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 24 February 2026)

On the register since 10 Mar 2026

£5,000

Name of donor: Edward Garton Woods
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist my work as a Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 21 January 2026)

On the register since 3 Feb 2026

£5,000

Name of donor: Lord (Stanley) Fink
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,000 financial support towards the cost of salary for a member of staff to assist the work of the Shadow Secretary of State.
Donor status: individual
(Registered 14 January 2026)

On the register since 20 Jan 2026

8. Miscellaneous

My husband, Marcus Whately, is Chief Executive of GrowUp Farms, a salad producer.
(Registered 17 September 2024)

On the register since 2 Oct 2024

The same register on parliament.uk →

Debates

588 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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