St Helens North / data
David Baines · Labour Party · sitting since 04 Jul 2024 · every division, speech and committee appearance.
Since election
659days
from 04 Jul 2024
Divisions
354
of 504 possible
Attendance
70%
150 absent / paired
Whip alignment
96%
vs party majority
Speeches
57
31 debates
Written Qs
31
30 answered
Committees
1
memberships
Expenses
£137k paid
FY 2024–2025 · 101 claims
Interests
0
Register
A · Overview
Issue volume
Top issues by total divisions voted — engagement only, not direction.
| Issue | Volume | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Taxation | 67 | |
| Economy | 60 | |
| Employment | 33 | |
| Welfare and Benefits | 30 | |
| Education | 27 | |
| Housing | 24 | |
| Crime & Policing | 23 | |
| Constitution and Democracy | 21 |
Speech topics
Words spoken, by topic. Source: Hansard.
| Topic | Debates | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Social Care | 5 | 2,448 |
| Defence | 4 | 2,238 |
| Culture Community | 2 | 2,072 |
| Crime | 3 | 1,491 |
| Economy Jobs | 7 | 1,200 |
| Cost Of Living | 5 | 1,048 |
| Mp Performance | 2 | 957 |
| Education | 3 | 870 |
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.
| Date | Division | Whip | MP voted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Jun 2025 | Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Amendment 24Vote on whether to prevent someone from qualifying as 'terminally ill' under the assisted dying bill solely because they have chosen to stop… | Free vote | Aye |
| 20 Jun 2025 | Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Third ReadingMPs voted on the Third Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — the final Commons vote on whether to pass the assisted dyin… | Free vote | No |
| 20 Jun 2025 | Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Amendment 94Vote on whether to prevent someone from qualifying as 'terminally ill' under the assisted dying bill solely because they have voluntarily st… | Free vote | No |
C · Speeches
| Date | Contribution | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Apr 2026 | Business of the HouseHappy St George’s day, Madam Deputy Speaker. Alan Clark and a team of volunteers from the CAMRA award-winning pub Haydock Reading Rooms recently completed the West Highland Way, ra… Local GovernmentEconomy JobsEnergy | 89 |
| 15 Apr 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1683)Thank you very much. All this is known. This evidence is known; I have heard it in lots of different places. It is good to hear it from you so eloquently today. Do you think that t… | 52 |
| 15 Apr 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1683)You have mentioned, in different ways, lived experience and the importance of hearing people’s stories. The Government are going to produce a baseline report in the summer—which mi… | 56 |
| 15 Apr 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1683)Just expanding on that point, I am interested in what you said earlier, Alun, about your apprehension about the way some people use the term “disadvantaged”, what that means and th… | 96 |
| 25 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1482)Sir Charlie Mayfield suggested that we invite him back in 12 months to report on progress in developing the healthy working life cycle. What do you think we should expect to see by… | 42 |
| 24 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1683)You have already mentioned the challenge with data and knowing exactly what is going on on the ground. Do you think the Government, and we generally, know enough about how child po… | 44 |
| 24 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1683)You have already mentioned the challenge with data and knowing exactly what is going on on the ground. Do you think the Government, and we generally, know enough about how child po… | 44 |
| 18 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1482)Do you see that as a priority for workers on low incomes in precarious employment? | 15 |
| 18 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1482)Yes. | 1 |
| 18 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1482)How is the Department engaging with the Mayfield review and its implementation? In particular, what we are doing to ensure that any changes are beneficial and supportive, particula… | 34 |
| 18 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1482)I want to ask a couple of questions about the Mayfield review, but more generally, I get a lot of comments, as I’m sure we all do as constituency MPs, from people who are critical … | 72 |
| 18 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1482)Sir Charlie Mayfield told us that we should not expect any tangible results for three to seven years, but we are hearing—and everyone is aware—that older workers now face ageism an… | 61 |
| 17 Mar 2026 | Youth UnemploymentYoung people are often unfairly criticised, but it is worth remembering that the vast majority of them are in employment, education or training. Those who are not deserve our suppo… Economy JobsEducationCost Of Living | 107 |
| 16 Mar 2026 | Strait of HormuzThe shadow Foreign Secretary said that this was “a moment for Britain to stand tall”, and I agree with her, which is why I was pleased to see the Prime Minister and this Government… DefenceEnergyCost Of Living | 77 |
| 04 Mar 2026 | Work and Pensions Committee — Oral Evidence (HC 1744)You have probably already answered this, but maybe you want to sum it up. How well would you say support for carers supports the Department’s responsibility to help people plan and… | 35 |
D · Written questions
Top departments
| Department | Questions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Department for Education | 9 | 29.0% |
| Department for Work and Pensions | 4 | 12.9% |
| Department of Health and Social Care | 4 | 12.9% |
| Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | 3 | 9.7% |
| Treasury | 2 | 6.5% |
| Department for Business and Trade | 2 | 6.5% |
| Department for Science, Innovation and Technology | 1 | 3.2% |
| Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 1 | 3.2% |
Most recent
| Date | Department | Question | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Apr 2026 | Department for Business and Trade | To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with Ofcom on regulating employment standards in the parcel delivery sector; and what steps he is taking to prevent gig economy working practices from adverse… | Pending |
| 21 Apr 2026 | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reforms to the statutory consultee system on Sport England's ability to represent the interests of grassroot… | Answered |
| 04 Mar 2026 | Department for Transport | To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on the research into the decline in road adoption rates across England; and when she expects to publish the findings of that research. | Answered |
| 04 Mar 2026 | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to strengthen protections for freeholders living on estates with unadopted roads; and to help ensure developers and utilities p… | Answered |
| 10 Feb 2026 | Department of Health and Social Care | To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is working with NHS England and other relevant bodies in the development and implementation of Modern Service Framewo… | Answered |
| 10 Feb 2026 | Department of Health and Social Care | To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of diagnostic and treatment pathways for Tourette syndrome across Integrated Care Boards; and for what reason Tourette syn… | Answered |
| 10 Feb 2026 | Department for Education | To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce measures for tracking spoken language skills alongside existing literacy assessments. | Answered |
| 19 Jan 2026 | Department for Education | To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider the potential merits of making safer sleep training for early years staff mandatory. | Answered |
| 19 Jan 2026 | Department for Education | To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the changes to the EYFS to include safer sleep will be laid as a statutory instrument. | Answered |
| 19 Jan 2026 | Department for Education | To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to require the provision of CCTV in early years settings. | Answered |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Department of Health and Social Care | To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with ICBs on minimum waiting times for NHS services. | Answered |
| 16 Oct 2025 | Treasury | To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy thresholds on future investment in the development of healthier soft drinks. | Answered |
| 16 Oct 2025 | Treasury | To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of lowering the starting threshold of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy on levels of sugar consumption. | Answered |
| 18 Jul 2025 | Department for Education | To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 10 of Ofsted's radicalisation and extremism inspection document, if she will take steps to ensure that it no longer informs inspectors that children with autism are at incr… | Answered |
| 08 Jul 2025 | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government | To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress she has made on considering the capital funding request from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. | Answered |
E · Committees
| Committee | Role | House | Start | End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work and Pensions CommitteeSelect | Member | Commons | 27 Oct 2025 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation | 32 | 22,428 | 16.4% |
| Office Costs | 60 | 11,644 | 8.5% |
| Staffing | 1 | 92,658 | 67.6% |
| MP Travel | 0 | 8,529 | 6.2% |
| Staff Travel | 0 | 1,405 | 1.0% |
| Dependant Travel | 0 | 311 | 0.2% |
Top itemised cost types
| Cost type | Category | Claims | Paid (£) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | Accommodation | 6 | 14,663 |
| Hotel - London | Accommodation | 15 | 5,720 |
| Stationery & printing | Office Costs | 33 | 4,325 |
| Rent | Office Costs | 11 | 4,025 |
| Pooled staffing services | Staffing | 1 | 3,000 |
| Software & applications | Office Costs | 4 | 2,159 |
| Council tax | Accommodation | 6 | 1,565 |
| Landline phone & internet - rental & usage | Office Costs | 4 | 521 |
| Utilities | Accommodation | 5 | 480 |
| Website hosting and design | Office Costs | 1 | 187 |
| TV licence | Office Costs | 1 | 170 |
| Advertising and contact cards | Office Costs | 1 | 150 |
Most recent
| Date | Category | Description | Paid (£) | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Rent | 2024-25 [***] rent pro-rata | -162 | Paid |
| 31 Mar 2025 | Accommodation Rent | 2024-25 [***] rent pro-rata | -337 | Paid |
| 26 Mar 2025 | Accommodation Utilities | Electricity | 128 | Paid |
| 22 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Software & applications | ADOBE ADOBE [200011725-8999] | 100 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 150 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 150 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 150 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 124 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 83 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 41 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 17 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 9 | Paid |
| 20 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Stationery & printing | Banner March 2025 | 3 | Paid |
| 13 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Rent | Rent | 474 | Paid |
| 12 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Advertising and contact cards | ZETTLE_ ST HELENS COLL [200011725-5014] | 150 | Paid |
| 06 Mar 2025 | Accommodation Rent | Rent | 3,000 | Paid |
| 05 Mar 2025 | Accommodation Council tax | council tax | 313 | Paid |
| 05 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Software & applications | INTUIT LTD MAILCHIMP [200011725-2411] | 19 | Paid |
| 03 Mar 2025 | Office Costs Venue hire, meetings & surgeries | [200011725-2889] | 31 | Paid |
| 25 Feb 2025 | Accommodation Utilities | Electricity | 113 | Paid |
G · Register of interests
No financial interests declared by this MP.
H · Ward results
Most recent winning councillor in each ward — 10 wards, 24 councillor seats.
| Ward | Councillor | Party | Votes | Election |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billinge Seneley Green | Colin Richard Betts | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 1,352 | 05 May 2022 |
| Billinge Seneley Green | Peter Peers | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 1,424 | 05 May 2022 |
| Billinge Seneley Green | Sue Murphy | Labour Party | 1,388 | 05 May 2022 |
| Blackbrook | Anthony James Burns | Labour Party | 1,309 | 05 May 2022 |
| Blackbrook | Linda Lovina Maloney | Labour Party | 1,255 | 05 May 2022 |
| Blackbrook | Paul McQuade | Labour Party | 1,262 | 05 May 2022 |
| Haydock | David Ian Van Der Burg | Green Party of England and Wales | 1,357 | 05 May 2022 |
| Haydock | Janet Ann Sheldon | Green Party of England and Wales | 1,445 | 05 May 2022 |
| Haydock | Paul Hooton | Green Party of England and Wales | 1,485 | 05 May 2022 |
| Moss Bank | Jeanette Susan Banks | Labour Party | 656 | 20 Oct 2022 |
| Newton Le Willows East | Jeanie Bell | Labour Party | 1,701 | 05 May 2022 |
| Newton Le Willows East | Keith Anthony Laird | Labour Party | 1,599 | 05 May 2022 |
| Newton Le Willows East | Sev Gomez-Aspron | Labour Party | 1,560 | 05 May 2022 |
| Newton Le Willows West | Dave Banks | Labour Party | 1,190 | 05 May 2022 |
| Newton Le Willows West | Karl Lionel Collier | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 1,302 | 05 May 2022 |
| Newton Le Willows West | Terry Maguire | Independent Berwick Hills Resident | 1,670 | 05 May 2022 |
| Parr | Andy Bowden | Labour Party | 1,172 | 05 May 2022 |
| Parr | Bisi Osundeko | Labour Party | 964 | 05 May 2022 |
| Parr | Kate Groucutt | Labour Party | 1,079 | 05 May 2022 |
| Rainford | Anne Linda Mussell | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,450 | 05 May 2022 |
| Rainford | John Case | Conservative and Unionist Party | 1,462 | 05 May 2022 |
| Sutton South East | Brian Spencer | Liberal Democrats | 816 | 05 May 2022 |
| Sutton South East | Janet Elizabeth Johnson | Labour Party | 589 | 05 May 2022 |
| Windle | Lisa Preston | Labour Party | 2,506 | 04 Jul 2024 |
I · Demographics
| Indicator | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2021 Census) | 97,805 | Electorate 75,483 (2024) |
| Median age | 43 | years |
| Degree-educated | 27.1% | level 4 or above |
| Ethnicity (White) | 97.0% | 2021 Census ethnic group |
| Owner-occupied | 66.8% | households |
| Private-rented | 12.8% | households |
| Social-rented | 20.3% | households |
| Employment rate | 55.0% | 16-64 in work |
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.