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MP profile

Rt Hon Sir Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon

Mel Stride has been an MP since 2010.

Roles and committees

Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.

In government

PostWhen
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Department for Work and Pensions)2022 to 2024
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Office of the Leader of the House of Commons)2019
Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General (HM Treasury)2017 to 2019
Comptroller (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons) (HM Household)2016 to 2017
Lord Commissioner (HM Treasury) (Whip) (Whips Office (Commons))2015 to 2016
Assistant Whip (HM Treasury) (Whips Office (Commons))2014 to 2015

In opposition

PostWhen
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (HM Treasury)2024 to 2026
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Department for Work and Pensions)2024

Committees

PostWhen
Treasury Sub-Committee on Financial Services Regulations2022
Cultural Objects (Protection From Seizure) Bill2021
Liaison Committee (Commons)2020 to 2022
Treasury Committee2020 to 2022
Liaison Committee (Commons)2019
Treasury Committee2019
Public Accounts Commission2019
Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority2019
Show the other 2
PostWhen
House of Commons Commission2019
Northern Ireland Affairs Committee2010 to 2011

Countries of interest

USA

Political Interests

Educationwelfare reformsocial justice

Source: UK Parliament Members API · Parliament’s own page

Declared interests

MPs must publish certain paid work, gifts, donations and other interests. This is a record of what they declared, not a suggestion that anything is wrong.

Mel Stride has 27 interests currently registered.

TypeWhat was registeredRegistered
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPSusan Green - £5,000.0010 Aug 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPDavid Archer - £1,500.0029 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPDavid Archer - £5,000.0029 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPPark Garage Group PLC - £1,500.0029 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPPark Garage Group PLC - £10,000.0029 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPRobert Derek Calrow - £5,000.0015 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPRobert Derek Calrow - £897.0015 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPAndrew Dawber - £5,000.008 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPJohn Ruskin - £5,000.008 Jul 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPJohn Ruskin - £897.008 Jul 2026
Show the other 17
TypeWhat was registeredRegistered
Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sourcesHakluyt - £550.0029 Jun 2026
Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sourcesBritish Asian Trust - £2,000.0024 Jun 2026
Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sourcesThe Conservative Party Foundation - £600.0026 May 2026
Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sourcesLloyds Banking Group PLC - £1,839.0026 May 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPPaddy Nicoll - £897.0019 May 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPPaddy Nicoll - £10,000.0019 May 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPBrechin Investment Ltd - £1,514.007 May 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPJoy Dawber - £1,514.0030 Apr 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPAndrew Dawber - £1,483.0030 Apr 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPSusan Green - £2,000.0010 Feb 2026
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPIPGL Limited - £2,000.0010 Feb 2026
Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sourcesKensington, Bayswater, Chelsea & Fulham Conservatives - £340.0018 Dec 2025
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPJ. C. Bamford Excavators Limited - £25,000.0020 Nov 2025
MiscellaneousHonorary Fellowship awarded by St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. This is an unpaid role.7 Nov 2025
Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MPGraham Edwards - £4,000.0030 Sep 2025
Visits outside the UKInternational visit to United States between 06 September 2025 and 10 September 202530 Sep 2025
ShareholdingsShares in Venture Marketing Group Ltd–

Source: Register of Members’ Financial Interests · Parliament’s own page

Questions

MPs can ask ministers questions in writing. The questions show what an MP is working on, which votes cannot.

Mel Stride asked 45 written questions in the last 12 months.

Who they asked

Treasury22
Department for Education13
Department for Work and Pensions8
Ministry of Defence2

Latest questions

13 Jul 2026 · to the Department for Work and Pensions
Answered 27 Aug 2026
10 Jul 2026 · to the Department for Education
Answered 3 Aug 2026
9 Jul 2026 · to the Department for Education
Answered 4 Aug 2026
9 Jul 2026 · to the Department for Education
Answered 4 Aug 2026
9 Jul 2026 · to the Department for Education
Answered 4 Aug 2026

Source: Written Questions API · Updated 4 Oct 2026

Expenses

MPs claim back money for running an office and working in two places. An independent body, IPSA, publishes every claim. This is what was paid in 2025-26.

PAID IN 2025-26
£8,098
Office costs · claims for running an office£3,818
Accommodation · claims for somewhere to stay£4,280

40 claims. For comparison, across the 657 MPs in IPSA’s file the middle MP was paid £18,469 and the average was £19,699.

Costs depend on many things, such as where an MP’s area is, what premises and staff they need, and whether they joined or left part-way through the year. This page does not say whether any amount is right or wrong. It covers the claims in IPSA’s individual business costs file, so it is not the full cost of an MP’s office.

Source: IPSA, individual business costs data · About this data

Election result and area

Mel Stride represents Central Devon. Here is who won there at the last general election, and a few numbers about the area.

WINNER, 2024
Mel Stride

Conservative

MAJORITY
61

votes ahead of second place

TURNOUT
71%

of people who could vote did

Mel Stride won with 31% of the votes, and Ollie Pearson (Labour) came second with 31%.

Votes for each party

Conservative31% · 16,831
Labour31% · 16,770
Liberal Democrat15% · 8,232
Reform UK15% · 7,784
Green Party6% · 3,338
Independent1% · 477
Every candidate
CandidatePartyVotesShare
Mel StrideConservative16,83131.5%
Ollie PearsonLabour16,77031.4%
Mark WoodingLiberal Democrat8,23215.4%
Jeffrey LeeksReform UK7,78414.6%
Gill WestcottGreen Party3,3386.2%
Arthur PriceIndependent4770.9%

2024 General Election, on today’s boundaries. Source: House of Commons Library via the Members API.

Your area at a glance

Typical pay for full-time workers who live here
£692 a week
This areaUK: £767 a week

Median gross weekly pay, 2025. Source: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.

Working-age people claiming unemployment-related benefits
2.2%
This areaUK: 3.9%

Share of people aged 16 to 64, August 2026. Source: ONS and DWP claimant count.

At a general election each area elects one MP, and the candidate with the most votes wins, even without more than half. The area figures describe the people who live here. They do not show whether any MP or vote is the cause.

Open this area on its own page →

How they vote

In the last 12 months Mel Stride took part in 164 Commons votes.

More detail on how they vote

Mel Stride voted the same way as their party in 162 of the 162 votes where parties gave instructions (100%), and went the other way in 0.

What does this mean?

Parties tell their MPs how to vote. Most MPs usually follow that. A high or low count says nothing on its own about whether an MP is good or bad, and we do not rank MPs by it. We only count votes where parties gave instructions, not free votes. How we count it

Recent votes

DateVoteThey votedCompared with party
11 SepEnd of life for terminally ill adults: the first main voteForFree vote
11 SepA vote to end a debateForFree vote
2 SepVoting and elections: the final voteAgainstSame as party
2 SepVoting and elections: a proposed changeAgainstSame as party
2 SepVoting and elections: a proposed changeForSame as party
2 SepVoting and elections: a proposed changeForSame as party

See every vote on Parliament’s site

Has this changed over time?

90%95%100%Oct 25Sep 26
This MPParty average
View data table
MonthThis MPParty average
Oct 25100%100%
Nov 25100%100%
Dec 25100%100%
Jan 26100%100%
Feb 26100%100%
Mar 26100%100%
Apr 26100%100%
May 26100%100%
Jun 26100%100%
Jul 26100%100%
Sep 26100%100%

Source: Commons Votes API

This page states what the record shows. It does not say why an MP voted as they did. How we calculate this