Official portrait of Josh MacAlister

Josh MacAlister

Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, since 4 July 2024

Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Josh MacAlister is the Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, and has been an MP continually since 4 July 2024. He currently holds the Government post of Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education).

Scorecard

82.3% Attendance Turns up more often than most MPs who vote
473 Votes cast out of 575 divisions
102 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
7 Interests declared 3 at £5,000 or more
96 Debates spoken in 41 written questions tabled

Ranked 138 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
27 Oct 2025 Victims and Courts Bill Report Stage: New Clause 4 No 152–337
21 Oct 2025 Sentencing Bill Committee: New Clause 30 No 77–390
21 Oct 2025 Sentencing Bill Committee: New Clause 9 No 104–317
21 Oct 2025 Sentencing Bill Committee: New Clause 6 No 167–313
21 Oct 2025 Sentencing Bill Committee: Amendment 24 No 182–307
21 Oct 2025 Sentencing Bill Committee: Clause 1, as amended, stand part Aye 389–102
21 Oct 2025 Sentencing Bill Committee: Amendment 46 No 105–381
20 Oct 2025 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill: Third Reading Aye 320–171
20 Oct 2025 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill Committee: New Clause 1 No 172–322
20 Oct 2025 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill Committee: Clause 2 stand part Aye 318–174
20 Oct 2025 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill Committee: Amendment 9 No 83–319
20 Oct 2025 Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill Committee: Amendment 7 No 174–321
15 Oct 2025 Sustainable Aviation Fuel Remaining Stages: Amendment 9 No 160–324
15 Oct 2025 Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill Remaining Stages: Amendment 8 No 151–319
15 Oct 2025 Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill Remaining Stages: New Clause 5 No 78–316
14 Oct 2025 Mental Health Bill Report Stage: Amendment 41 No 164–333
14 Oct 2025 Mental Health Bill Report Stage: Amendment 40 No 163–339
14 Oct 2025 Mental Health Bill Report Stage New Clause 26 No 78–327
16 Sep 2025 Sentencing Bill: Second Reading No vote 340–77
16 Sep 2025 Sentencing Bill: Reasoned Amendment on Second Reading No vote 78–292
16 Sep 2025 Child poverty strategy (removal of two child limit): Ten Minute Rule Motion No vote 89–79
15 Sep 2025 Employment Rights Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 121 Aye 316–161
15 Sep 2025 Employment Rights Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 62 Aye 330–161
15 Sep 2025 Employment Rights Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 61 Aye 330–161
15 Sep 2025 Employment Rights Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 60 Aye 318–170

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

£20,000

Name of donor: Lord (David) Sainsbury
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £20,000
Donor status: individual
(Registered 21 March 2026)

On the register since 24 Mar 2026

£20,000

Name of donor: Lord (David) Sainsbury
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £20,000
Donor status: individual
(Registered 15 July 2025)

On the register since 5 Aug 2025

2. (b) Any other support not included in Category 2(a)

£10,000

Name of donor: Cressida Pollock and Danny Luhde-Thompson
Address of donor: private
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £10,000
Date received: 11 July 2025
Date accepted: 11 July 2025
Donor status: individual
(Registered 15 July 2025)

On the register since 5 Aug 2025

3. Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources

Name of donor: Lloyds Banking Group
Address of donor: 25 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7HN
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Ticket to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show including gala dinner and reception in aid of the Woodland Trust and access to the show, value £919.50
Date received: 18 May 2026
Date accepted: 18 May 2026
Donor status: company, registration 00002065
(Registered 25 June 2026)

On the register since 30 Jun 2026

Name of donor: London Marathon Events Ltd
Address of donor: 190 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YB
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: Hospitality at the start and finish of the London Marathon 2026, value £350
Date received: 26 April 2026
Date accepted: 26 April 2026
Donor status: company, registration 01528489
(Registered 29 April 2026)

On the register since 19 May 2026

8. Miscellaneous

Volunteer Member of the Council of Management of The Lionel Cooke Memorial Fund Ltd (a funding body supporting Labour causes). This is an unpaid role.
Date interest arose: 1 January 2025
Date interest ended: 30 September 2025
(Registered 7 January 2025; updated 21 March 2026)

On the register since 25 Mar 2026

Mountain Rescue Team Member. This is an unpaid role.
Date interest arose: 5 July 2024
(Registered 23 July 2024)

On the register since 29 Jul 2025

The same register on parliament.uk →

Debates

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

Money declared to them

2 donations accepted personally since 4 Jul 2024, worth £11,800 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
1 Oct 2024 Josh MacAlister sitting MP Ben Kingsley Individual Non Cash Consultancy services £8,000
1 Oct 2024 Josh MacAlister sitting MP Smartphone Free Childhood Ltd Company Non Cash Administration services £3,800

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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