Josh MacAlister, MP for Whitehaven and Workington
Josh MacAlister has been an MP since 2024. Currently: Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education).
Roles and committees
Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.
In government
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education) (Department for Education) | 2025 to now | Now |
Committees
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Security and Net Zero Committee | 2024 to 2025 | |
| Great British Energy Bill | 2024 |
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.
Josh MacAlister has 6 interests currently registered.
| Type | What was registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Gifts and benefits from sources outside the UK | Australian Labor PArty - £310.45 | 10 Aug 2026 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | Lloyds Banking Group - £919.50 | 25 Jun 2026 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | London Marathon Events Ltd - £350.00 | 29 Apr 2026 |
| Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP | Lord (David) Sainsbury - £20,000.00 | 21 Mar 2026 |
| 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. | 7 Jan 2025 |
| Miscellaneous | Mountain Rescue Team Member. This is an unpaid role. | 23 Jul 2024 |
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.
Josh MacAlister has not asked any written questions in the last 12 months. Government ministers cannot ask them, so this can simply reflect an MP’s role.
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.
101 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
Josh MacAlister represents Whitehaven and Workington. Here is who won there at the last general election, and a few numbers about the area.
Labour
votes ahead of second place
of people who could vote did
Josh MacAlister won with 53% of the votes, and David Surtees (Reform UK) came second with 21%.
Votes for each party
Every candidate
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Josh MacAlister | Labour | 22,173 | 53.0% |
| David Surtees | Reform UK | 8,887 | 21.2% |
| Andrew Johnson | Conservative | 8,455 | 20.2% |
| Jill Perry | Green Party | 1,207 | 2.9% |
| Chris Wills | Liberal Democrat | 1,118 | 2.7% |
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 Josh MacAlister took part in 200 Commons votes.
More detail on how they vote
Josh MacAlister voted the same way as their party in 198 of the 198 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 |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: a proposed change | Against | Same as party |
| 8 Sep | Health: 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% | 99% |
| 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