Official portrait of Dame Chi Onwurah

Dame Chi Onwurah

Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, since 6 May 2010

Dame Chi Onwurah is the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, and has been an MP continually since 6 May 2010.

Scorecard

73.9% Attendance Turns up more often than most MPs who vote
425 Votes cast out of 575 divisions
150 No vote recorded absent, abstaining, paired or unable to attend
13 Against their own party divisions where they voted the other way to most Labour MPs
14 Interests declared none at £5,000 or more
1335 Debates spoken in 4615 written questions tabled

Ranked 295 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: Newcastle Eagles Basketball Ltd
Address of donor: Vertu Motors Arena, Scotswood Road, Newcastle NE4 7AF
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Tickets and hospitality to watch a Newcastle Eagles Basketball game. Attended by Chi her partner, her partner's son and his partner, value £336
Date received: 9 January 2026 to 9 January 2026
Date accepted: 9 January 2026
Donor status: company, registration 03041174
(Registered 13 January 2026)

On the register since 8 Apr 2026

Name of donor: Cristina Caffarra
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Dinner - for speakers attending The Perfect Storm Conference in Brussels - meal was held at The Sky Avenue Louise 480, 1000 Brussels £406 aprox including VAT, value £406
Date received: 30 January 2025
Date accepted: 30 January 2025
Donor status: individual
(Registered 21 March 2025)
This is a late entry to which the rectification procedure was applied on 1 December 2025. Paragraph 51 of the Procedural Protocol in respect of the Code of Conduct refers.

On the register since 31 Mar 2026

Name of donor: Newcastle College
Address of donor: Rye Hill Campus, Scotswood Road, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 7SA
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: A suit made by a student to be worn for my Damehood ceremony, value £500
Date received: 8 December 2025 to 13 January 2026
Date accepted: 8 December 2025
Donor status: other (Further Education College)
(Registered 13 January 2026)

On the register since 12 Feb 2026

Name of donor: Cristina Caffarra
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Speaker's dinner at a conference in Brussels (value is approximate), value £169
Date received: 30 January 2025
Date accepted: 30 January 2025
Donor status: individual
(Registered 11 November 2025)
This is a late entry to which the rectification procedure was applied on 1 December 2025. Paragraph 51 of the Procedural Protocol in respect of the Code of Conduct refers.

On the register since 2 Dec 2025

Name of donor: Newcastle City Council
Address of donor: Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8QH
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Ticket and hospitality for the Mercury Prize held in Newcastle (exact cost provided), value £275
Date received: 16 October 2025 to 16 October 2025
Date accepted: 16 October 2025
Donor status: other (Newcastle City Council)
(Registered 7 November 2025)

On the register since 18 Nov 2025

Name of donor: Newcastle United Limited
Address of donor: St James' Park, Newcatle upon Tyne NE1 4ST
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Invitation for me and a staff member to attend Sam Fender Concert at St James' Park, ticket included hospitality (£250 per person), value £500
Date received: 12 June 2025
Date accepted: 12 June 2025
Donor status: company, registration 2529667
(Registered 8 July 2025)

On the register since 15 Jul 2025

4. Visits outside the UK

Name of donor: Wilton Park
Address of donor: Wilton Park, Wiston House Steyning, West Sussex BN44 3DZ
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights (£3971.21)- Chi Onwurah only Hotel accommodation and hospitality (£520)-Chi Onwurah and partner, value £4,491.21
Destination of visit: South Korea (Seoul)
Dates of visit: 13 December 2025 to 17 December 2025
Purpose of visit: ROK-UK Forum in capacity as Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee
(Registered 8 January 2026)

On the register since 20 Jan 2026

Name of donor: Armed Forces Parliamentary Trust
Address of donor: Parliament
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights London-Brunei, value £799.82
Destination of visit: Brunei
Dates of visit: 25 May 2025 to 30 May 2025
Purpose of visit: Experience the work of the British Army stationed in the Brunei
(Registered 7 November 2025)
This is a late entry to which the rectification procedure was applied on 1 December 2025. Paragraph 51 of the Procedural Protocol in respect of the Code of Conduct refers.

On the register since 2 Dec 2025

6. Land and property portfolio with a value over £100,000 and where indicated, the portfolio provides a rental income of over £10,000 a year

Type of land/property: Residential property (house)
Number of properties: 1
Location: Northumberland
Interest held: from 2 September 2016
(Registered 2 November 2016)

On the register since 12 Feb 2026

Type of land/property: Residential property (holiday apartment)
Number of properties: 1
Location: Unspecified, Portugal
Interest held: from 2 September 2016
(Registered 7 November 2016)

On the register since 12 Feb 2026

8. Miscellaneous

Chartered engineer (non-practising).

On the register since 18 Apr 2024

Honorary Vice President of ACTSA (Action for South Africa).
Date interest arose: 15 December 2015
(Registered 17 December 2015)

On the register since 18 Apr 2024

Director of the Foundation for Science & Technology.
Date interest arose: 6 July 2016
(Registered 12 August 2016)

On the register since 18 Apr 2024

Member of the Board of the Hamilton Commission, a standalone piece of research in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering, that will work to improve the representation of black people in UK motorsport.
Date interest arose: 4 August 2020
(Registered 23 November 2020)

On the register since 18 Apr 2024

The same register on parliament.uk →

Debates

1335 debates contributed to in total. The ten most recent:

Money declared to them

1 donation accepted personally since 4 Jul 2024, worth £4,491 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
13 Dec 2025 Chi Onwurah sitting MP Wilton Park Other Visit £4,491

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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