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.

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

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:

Money declared to them

1 donation accepted personally since 4 Jul 2024, worth £2,450 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
25 Apr 2025 Helen Whately MP sitting MP Richard Chesson Individual Cash £2,450

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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