Faversham and Mid Kent.

Whately's most distinctive recent action was a rebel vote in June 2025, when she broke with the Conservative majority to vote against requiring women to have an in-person consultation before receiving abortion medication -- a conscience issue on which Parliament allows free votes, but her position placed her on the more liberal side of her party. As Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, she has attracted controversy: comments she made about ADHD, anxiety and benefits claimants in October 2025 drew widespread criticism, and a March 2026 social media post attacking remote PIP assessments was widely condemned by disability advocates as misleading. Locally, she has been more active -- launching a petition against housing targets and welcoming long-sought road improvements at Blue Bell Hill after what she describes as years of campaigning.

At 70% participation (below the Commons average) and 99.7% party alignment, she is a loyal opposition frontbencher who rarely rebels. Her speech topics -- economy, social care, labour market and fiscal policy -- reflect her shadow brief rather than specialist personal interest. She votes strongly with Conservative positions on business, parliamentary scrutiny and limiting tax rises, and consistently against government legislation including the English Devolution Bill and the Pension Schemes Bill's ministerial investment powers. She deviates from her party average by showing slightly stronger support for Lords scrutiny and civil liberties, and is notably less aligned than Conservative peers on climate action.

Whately held ministerial office under previous Conservative governments, including as a Health and Social Care minister, which explains her continued focus on care policy from the opposition benches. She sits on no select committees. Local news coverage is broadly neutral in aggregate, though the high-impact negative stories around disability benefits comments represent the most prominent coverage of her work in the past year. Vote and speech data extend to May 2026.