Melanie Ward, MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy
Melanie Ward has been an MP since 2024. Currently: Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office).
Roles and committees
Posts held in government or opposition, and committee seats, as Parliament records them.
In government
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office) (Scotland Office) | 2026 to now | Now |
Committees
| Post | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Courts and Tribunals Bill | 2026 | |
| Ecclesiastical Committee | 2025 to 2026 |
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.
Melanie Ward has 5 interests currently registered.
| Type | What was registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| Visits outside the UK | International visit to Syria between 29 June 2026 and 02 July 2026 | 7 Jul 2026 |
| Visits outside the UK | International visit to Qatar between 05 December 2025 and 08 December 2025 | 19 Dec 2025 |
| Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources | Great Britain China Centre - £1,100.00 | 24 Nov 2025 |
| Visits outside the UK | International visit to Saudi Arabia between 30 September 2025 and 03 October 2025 | 23 Oct 2025 |
| Visits outside the UK | International visit to United States between 17 September 2025 and 21 September 2025 | 13 Oct 2025 |
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.
Melanie Ward asked 16 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.
113 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
Melanie Ward represents Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy. 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
Melanie Ward won with 46% of the votes, and Lesley Backhouse (Scottish National Party) came second with 28%.
Votes for each party
Every candidate
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melanie Ward | Labour | 18,662 | 45.7% |
| Lesley Backhouse | Scottish National Party | 11,414 | 28.0% |
| Jonathan Gray | Conservative | 3,203 | 7.8% |
| Sonia Davidson | Reform UK | 3,128 | 7.7% |
| Fraser Graham | Liberal Democrat | 1,593 | 3.9% |
| Mags Hall | Scottish Green Party | 1,556 | 3.8% |
| Neale Hanvey | Alba Party | 1,132 | 2.8% |
| Calum Paul | Scottish Libertarian Party | 126 | 0.3% |
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 Melanie Ward took part in 179 Commons votes.
More detail on how they vote
Melanie Ward voted the same way as their party in 177 of the 177 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 | Against | Free vote |
| 11 Sep | A vote to end a debate | Against | 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