Official portrait of Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper

Labour MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, since 1 May 1997

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper is the Labour MP for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, and has been an MP continually since 1 May 1997. She currently holds the Government post of Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

Scorecard

29.6% Attendance In the least-present tenth of MPs who vote
170 Votes cast out of 575 divisions
405 No vote recorded absent, abstaining, paired or unable to attend
0 Against their own party divisions where they voted the other way to most Labour MPs
4 Interests declared none at £5,000 or more
1006 Debates spoken in 189 written questions tabled

Ranked 622 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
3 Sep 2025 Opposition day: Hospitality sector No vote 158–334
3 Sep 2025 Opposition day: Property taxes No vote 98–335
2 Sep 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: Second Reading Aye 365–164
2 Sep 2025 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill: Reasoned Amendment No 167–367
16 Jul 2025 Enterprise Act 2002 (Amendment of Section 58 Considerations) Order 2025 (SI, 2025, No. 737) deferred division Aye 333–54
16 Jul 2025 Draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Definition of Newspaper) Order 2025 deferred division Aye 334–54
15 Jul 2025 Opposition Day: Tax No vote 165–342
15 Jul 2025 Opposition Day: Welfare No vote 106–440
11 Jul 2025 Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill Report: Amendment 1 No vote 0–47
11 Jul 2025 Motion to sit in private No vote 1–58
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill: Third Reading Aye 336–242
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 38 No 149–334
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: New Clause 8 No 130–443
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 45 No 175–401
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill Committee: Clause 2, as amended, and Clause 3 stand part Aye 335–135
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 12 No 105–370
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 50 No 103–416
9 Jul 2025 Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill Committee: Amendment 39 No 35–469
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL]: Third Reading No vote 415–98
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL] Report Stage: Amendment 18 No vote 178–338
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL] Report Stage: New Clause 3 No vote 86–340
8 Jul 2025 Football Governance Bill [HL] Report Stage: New Clause 1 No vote 167–346
4 Jul 2025 Motion to sit in private No vote 1–33
2 Jul 2025 Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025 Aye 385–26
2 Jul 2025 Armed Forces Commissioner Bill: Motion to insist on 2A and disagree with LA2B and LA2C No vote 321–158

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.

1. Employment and earnings

Payment: £758.06 For additional sales of a book already published.
Received on: 28 April 2026. Hours: no hours entered.
(Registered 14 May 2026)

On the register since 19 May 2026

Payment: £643.01 For additional sales of a book already published
Received on: 28 October 2025. Hours: no hours entered.
(Registered 5 November 2025)

On the register since 18 Nov 2025

Role, work or services: Writing a book
Payer: Conville and Walsh (literary agent), Haymarket House, London SW1Y 4SP

On the register since 28 May 2024

3. Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources

Name of donor: Barbara Follett
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Accommodation for staff members during Labour Party conference, value £2,350
Date received: 27 September 2025 to 1 October 2025
Date accepted: 27 September 2025
Donor status: individual
(Registered 21 October 2025)

On the register since 7 Nov 2025

The same register on parliament.uk →

Debates

1006 debates contributed to in total. The ten most recent:

Money declared to them

No donations to this member appear on the Electoral Commission's register for this Parliament. Only donations above the statutory thresholds have to be declared, and the match is made on name — search the register directly if you are checking a specific one.

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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