Ben Lake, MP for Ceredigion Preseli
Ben Lake has been an MP since 2017. Currently: Welsh Affairs Committee.
Roles and committees
Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.
In opposition
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Shadow PC Spokesperson (Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) (Opposition Department) | 2020 to 2024 | |
| Shadow PC Spokesperson (Education) (Opposition Department) | 2020 to 2024 | |
| Shadow PC Spokesperson (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (Opposition Department) | 2020 to 2024 | |
| Shadow PC Spokesperson (Health and Social Care) (Opposition Department) | 2020 to 2024 | |
| Shadow PC Spokesperson (Housing, Communities & Local Government) (Opposition Department) | 2020 to 2024 | |
| Shadow PC Spokesperson (The Constitution and Welsh Affairs) (Opposition Department) | 2020 to 2024 | |
| Shadow PC Spokesperson (Treasury) (Opposition Department) | 2020 to 2024 |
Committees
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill | 2025 | |
| Controlled Drugs (Procedure for Specification) Bill | 2025 | |
| Welsh Affairs Committee | 2024 to now | Now |
| Community and Suspended Sentences (Notification of Details) Bill | 2024 | |
| Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation Bill | 2024 | |
| Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Bill | 2024 | |
| Pensions (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill | 2024 | |
| Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill | 2024 |
Show the other 7
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill (Formerly known as Shared Parental Leave and Pay (Bereavement) Bill) | 2024 | |
| Public Accounts Committee | 2023 to 2024 | |
| Down Syndrome Bill | 2022 | |
| Welsh Grand Committee | 2022 to 2024 | |
| Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill | 2021 | |
| Welsh Affairs Committee | 2020 to 2024 | |
| Welsh Affairs Committee | 2017 to 2019 |
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.
No interests are currently registered for Ben Lake.
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.
Ben Lake asked 175 written questions in the last 12 months.
Who they asked
Latest questions
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.
34 claims. For comparison, across the 657 MPs in IPSA’s file the middle MP was paid £18,469 and the average was £19,699.
Source: IPSA, individual business costs data · About this data
Election result and area
Ben Lake represents Ceredigion Preseli. Here is who won there at the last general election, and a few numbers about the area.
Plaid Cymru
votes ahead of second place
of people who could vote did
Ben Lake won with 47% of the votes, and Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat) came second with 15%.
Votes for each party
Every candidate
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Lake | Plaid Cymru | 21,738 | 46.9% |
| Mark Williams | Liberal Democrat | 6,949 | 15.0% |
| Jackie Jones | Labour | 5,386 | 11.6% |
| Karl Pollard | Reform UK | 5,374 | 11.6% |
| Aled Thomas | Conservative | 4,763 | 10.3% |
| Tomos Barlow | Green Party | 1,864 | 4.0% |
| Taghrid Al-Mawed | Workers Party of Britain | 228 | 0.5% |
2024 General Election, on today’s boundaries. Source: House of Commons Library via the Members API.
Your area at a glance
Median gross weekly pay, 2025. Source: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
Share of people aged 16 to 64, August 2026. Source: ONS and DWP claimant count.
How they vote
In the last 12 months Ben Lake took part in 172 Commons votes.
More detail on how they vote
Ben Lake voted the same way as their party in 169 of the 169 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
| Date | Vote | They voted | Compared with party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 Sep | End of life for terminally ill adults: the first main vote | For | Free vote |
| 11 Sep | A vote to end a debate | For | Free vote |
| 7 Sep | Health: a proposed change | For | Same as party |
| 2 Sep | Voting and elections: the final vote | For | Same as party |
| 2 Sep | Voting and elections: a proposed change | For | Same as party |
| 2 Sep | Voting and elections: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
See every vote on Parliament’s site
Has this changed over time?
View data table
| Month | This MP | Party average |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Nov 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Dec 25 | 100% | 100% |
| Jan 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Feb 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Mar 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Apr 26 | 100% | 100% |
| May 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jun 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Jul 26 | 100% | 100% |
| Sep 26 | 100% | 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