Dumfries & Galloway / data
John Cooper · Conservative and Unionist Party · sitting since 04 Jul 2024 · every division, speech and committee appearance.
Since election
659days
from 04 Jul 2024
Divisions
368
of 504 possible
Attendance
73%
136 absent / paired
Whip alignment
100%
vs party majority
Speeches
337
141 debates
Written Qs
120
113 answered
Committees
3
memberships
Expenses
£154k paid
FY 2024–2025 · 126 claims
Interests
2
1 category
A · Overview
Issue volume
Top issues by total divisions voted — engagement only, not direction.
| Issue | Volume | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Taxation | 86 | |
| Economy | 82 | |
| Employment | 45 | |
| Crime & Policing | 35 | |
| Education | 28 | |
| Welfare and Benefits | 22 | |
| Constitution and Democracy | 22 | |
| Pensions | 21 |
Speech topics
Words spoken, by topic. Source: Hansard.
| Topic | Debates | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Economy Jobs | 68 | 16,954 |
| Defence | 40 | 6,056 |
| Energy | 17 | 3,716 |
| Local Government | 10 | 3,562 |
| Agriculture | 8 | 3,113 |
| Fiscal Policy | 13 | 2,996 |
| Social Care | 11 | 2,958 |
| Crime | 14 | 2,694 |
B · Notable divisions
Free votes, rebellions and high-salience whipped votes — the moments that distinguish this MP from the party machine. The full division-by-division record will follow once the per-MP archive is wired.
No notable votes recorded for this MP yet.
C · Speeches
| Date | Contribution | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Apr 2026 | Topical QuestionsT5. Happy St George’s day, Mr Speaker. We face many threats, but happily dragons are no longer one of them. The Government maintain that the messages between Morgan McSweeney and h… DefenceTechnologyEconomy Jobs | 79 |
| 22 Apr 2026 | Defence SectorThank you, Mr Speaker. I do not know whether to stand at the Dispatch Box or on it. For want of a horseshoe nail, the kingdom was lost. The defence of our country today rests on mo… DefenceEconomy Jobs | 121 |
| 20 Apr 2026 | Apprenticeships12. What steps she is taking to promote apprenticeships as an alternative to university education. EducationEconomy JobsLabour Market | 15 |
| 20 Apr 2026 | ApprenticeshipsAt an awards ceremony in Scotland last month, apprentices said time and again how they were told throughout their school careers that their grades were good enough to go to univers… EducationEconomy JobsLabour Market | 79 |
| 16 Apr 2026 | British Industrial Competitiveness SchemeThe buzzword this morning is “bold”. Yet the reality is that, though this plan might be bolder than what went before, it remains with all the oomph of a 40W bulb. When electricity … EnergyEconomy Jobs | 99 |
| 15 Apr 2026 | Strategic Defence Review: FundingTo listen to the Minister, one might think that the DIP matters very little and that we are cracking on regardless, but the truth is that the MOD has been out-manoeuvred by the Cha… DefenceFiscal PolicyEconomy Jobs | 99 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)AI rests on super-sophisticated chips, at the end of the day. There are very specialist items, such as field-programmable gate arrays, which themselves are new and novel. What do y… | 74 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)You are spreading the bet. Phill, what is your thought on that sort of spread bet? Is that the idea? | 20 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)I wonder whether that is the point, Dame Wendy. Are we asking the wrong question here? I often think of television. You do not need to understand Rediffusion to change the channel … | 56 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)Mr Evans, do you think that we are in quite a good place? | 13 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)How should we be addressing that? Should we be trying to onshore production of these? Is that possible? I have been to Taiwan and they are very clear in Taiwan that they are street… | 75 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)If a pension scheme came to you and said, “We want to put money into AI,” which areas of AI would you recommend that it look at? Where do you think the biggest potentials for growt… | 213 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)You mentioned there that you thought the Chinese were actually acting as the good guys in this. I wondered whether you might explain what you meant by that. | 28 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)Professor, you talked about campus UK and our attractiveness for AI companies. We are host to something like 6,000 companies that are involved in AI. I wonder how attractive we are… | 56 |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Business and Trade Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1794)Karim, what are your thoughts? Where are you placing your bets? | 11 |
D · Written questions
Top departments
| Department | Questions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | 11 | 9.2% |
| Department for Business and Trade | 10 | 8.3% |
| Scotland Office | 10 | 8.3% |
| Home Office | 9 | 7.5% |
| Department for Transport | 9 | 7.5% |
| Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 9 | 7.5% |
| Ministry of Defence | 8 | 6.7% |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | 6 | 5.0% |
Most recent
| Date | Department | Question | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Apr 2026 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a carve-out for precision bred organisms from dynamic alignment under the proposed UK-EU SPS agreement has been agreed with the EU. | Pending |
| 21 Apr 2026 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to ensure that the UK's approach to crop protection authorisation is safeguarded under the proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement. | Pending |
| 21 Apr 2026 | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to secure assurances from the European Union on a permanent carve-out for products authorised under the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 202… | Pending |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Department for Education | To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report, entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact, on the contrib… | Pending |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what consideration he has given to the findings of the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Glob… | Pending |
| 14 Apr 2026 | Department for Education | To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the priorities set out in the British Council Scotland and Universities Scotland report entitled Scotland’s Higher Education: Partnering for Global Impact have informed the Government’s a… | Pending |
| 24 Mar 2026 | Department for Culture, Media and Sport | To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the potential impact of upcoming changes to the subscription contracts regime on local and region… | Answered |
| 24 Mar 2026 | Department for Business and Trade | To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the Policy paper entitled Amplify: The Local Media Action Plan of 17 March 2026, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a 14-day cooling-off… | Answered |
| 24 Mar 2026 | Department for Business and Trade | To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when his Department plans to engage with stakeholders on the implementation of the new subscription contracts regime. | Answered |
| 23 Mar 2026 | Women and Equalities | To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many apprentices her Department recruited in 2025, compared to i) 2022 ii) 2023 and iii) 2024. | Pending |
| 23 Mar 2026 | Ministry of Justice | To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many apprentices his Department recruited in each year since 2022. | Answered |
| 23 Mar 2026 | Scotland Office | To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many apprentices his Department recruited in 2025, compared to i) 2022 ii) 2023 and iii) 2024. | Answered |
| 23 Mar 2026 | Ministry of Defence | To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many apprentices his Department recruited in each year since 2022. | Answered |
| 23 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many apprentices her Department recruited in 2025, compared to i) 2022 ii) 2023 and iii) 2024. | Answered |
| 17 Mar 2026 | Home Office | To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the European Convention on Human Rights on levels of illegal immigration. | Answered |
E · Committees
| Committee | Role | House | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business and Trade Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export ControlsSelect | Member | Commons | 05 Mar 2025 | present |
| Business and Trade CommitteeSelect | Member | Commons | 21 Oct 2024 | present |
| Business and Trade Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export ControlsSelect | Member | Commons | 21 Oct 2024 | present |
F · Expenses
Every business-cost claim reimbursed by IPSA in the current financial year, grouped by category. “Aggregated” rows are IPSA’s own year-end totals for cost types like payroll and rent that aren’t itemised claim-by-claim.
Category breakdown
| Category | Claims | Paid (£) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office Costs | 94 | 27,023 | 17.5% |
| Accommodation | 14 | 15,315 | 9.9% |
| Staffing | 3 | 88,702 | 57.4% |
| MP Travel | 0 | 21,332 | 13.8% |
| Staff Travel | 0 | 2,075 | 1.3% |
Top itemised cost types
| Cost type | Category | Claims | Paid (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | Accommodation | 9 | 13,855 |
| Stationery & printing | Office Costs | 27 | 4,253 |
| Rent | Office Costs | 8 | 4,090 |
| Equipment - purchase | Office Costs | 11 | 3,783 |
| Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs | Office Costs | 1 | 3,000 |
| Pooled staffing services | Office Costs | 1 | 2,633 |
| Pooled staffing services | Staffing | 1 | 2,633 |
| Advertising and contact cards | Office Costs | 6 | 2,252 |
| Utilities | Office Costs | 10 | 2,233 |
| Software & applications | Office Costs | 1 | 1,618 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Office Costs | 7 | 1,200 |
| Hotel - London | Accommodation | 2 | 1,175 |
Most recent
| Date | Category | Description | Paid (£) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | 23 | Paid |
| 11 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | 308 | Paid |
| 11 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Equipment - purchase | Other office equipment | 86 | Paid |
| 11 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | MERLIN OFFICE [200011899-2] | 34 | Paid |
| 10 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Advertising and contact cards | STRANRAER & WIGTOWNSHI [200011798-510] | 168 | Paid |
| 03 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Newspapers, journals, magazines | WARWICK´S NEWS AGENTS [200012354-1] | 69 | Paid |
| 01 Apr 2025 | Accommodation Rent | Rent | 2,080 | Paid |
| 01 Apr 2025 | Office Costs Rent | Rent | 495 | Paid |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Utilities | Electricity | 194 | Paid |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Rent | 2024-25 [***] rent pro-rata | -495 | Paid |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Accommodation Rent | 2024-25 [***] rent pro-rata | -1,875 | Paid |
| 28 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Cleaning services | Constituency Office Window Cleaning [200011797-228] | 30 | Paid |
| 25 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Equipment - purchase | Office furniture | 2,022 | Paid |
| 21 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Landline & internet package | 166 | Paid |
| 14 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Advertising and contact cards | ANNANDALE OBSERVER LTD [200011725-5721] | 216 | Paid |
| 13 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Postage & couriers | RM ONLINE INVOICE PAYM [200011725-3631] [200011799-94] | 8 | Paid |
| 10 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | RNIB ENTERPRISE [200011725-4895] | 17 | Paid |
| 06 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Utilities | Water | 49 | Paid |
| 04 Mar 2025 | Accommodation Rent | Rent | 1,950 | Paid |
| 04 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Rent | Rent | 495 | Paid |
G · Register of interests
Every financial interest declared by the MP, grouped under the Register’s official categories. Retracted entries are hidden but counted above.
4. Visits outside the UK2 entries
21 Oct 2025
Name of donor: Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Address of donor: 2 Ketagalan Blvd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City 100202, Taiwan
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights and transportation (£4,587), Accommodation (£885), Hospitality (£335), value £5,807
Destination of visit: Taiwan
Dates of visit: 27 September 2025 to 3 October 2025
Purpose of visit: Travelled to Taiwan as part of a parliamentary delegation to explore cooperation opportunities between the UK and Taiwan
(Registered 13 October 2025)
13 May 2025
Name of donor: HM Government of Gibraltar
Address of donor: Gibraltar House, 150 Strand, London WC2R 1JA
Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation): Flights (£372 return), accommodation (£346) and meals/hospitality (£200), value £918
Destination of visit: Gibraltar
Dates of visit: 24 April 2025 to 26 April 2025
Purpose of visit: Meetings with representatives of HM Government of Gibraltar
(Registered 2 May 2025)
H · Ward results
Most recent winning councillor in each ward — 7 wards, 22 councillor seats.
| Ward | Councillor | Party | Votes | Election |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbey | Davie Stitt | Labour Party | 1,053 | 05 May 2022 |
| Abbey | Ian Blake | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,005 | 05 May 2022 |
| Abbey | Kim Lowe | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 1,267 | 05 May 2022 |
| Castle Douglas Crocketford | Iain Howie | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 403 | 05 May 2022 |
| Castle Douglas Crocketford | John Lachlan Young | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 1,012 | 05 May 2022 |
| Castle Douglas Crocketford | Pauline Drysdale | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,220 | 05 May 2022 |
| Dee Glenkens | Andy Mcfarlane | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 1,139 | 05 May 2022 |
| Dee Glenkens | Dougie Campbell | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 655 | 05 May 2022 |
| Dee Glenkens | John Denerley | Conservative and Unionist Party | 912 | 05 May 2022 |
| Mid Galloway Wigtown West | Richard Marsh | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,797 | 08 Dec 2022 |
| Nith | David Robert Slater | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 488 | 05 May 2022 |
| Nith | John Campbell | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 1,670 | 05 May 2022 |
| Nith | Keith Walters | Labour Party | 835 | 05 May 2022 |
| Nith | Malcolm Johnstone | Conservative and Unionist Party | 904 | 05 May 2022 |
| North West Dumfries | Andy Ferguson | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 1,561 | 05 May 2022 |
| North West Dumfries | Emma Jordan | Labour Party | 728 | 05 May 2022 |
| North West Dumfries | Graham Bell | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,123 | 05 May 2022 |
| North West Dumfries | Paula Stevenson | Labour Party | 347 | 05 May 2022 |
| Stranraer The Rhins | Andrew Giusti | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,518 | 05 May 2022 |
| Stranraer The Rhins | Ben Dashper | Scottish National Party (SNP) | 1,074 | 05 May 2022 |
| Stranraer The Rhins | Chrissie Hill | Conservative and Unionist Party | 338 | 05 May 2022 |
| Stranraer The Rhins | Willie Scobie | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 1,051 | 05 May 2022 |
I · Demographics
Demographic profile unavailable for this constituency.
J · Public spending
HMT publishes headline spending identifiable by region in PESA. Constituency-level capital allocations (Levelling-Up Fund, Towns Fund, UKSPF, transport capital, BEIS R&D) are published as separate departmental datasets. We are evaluating the cleanest reconciliation for a per-constituency view.