Catherine McKinnell.

Assisted dying dominated McKinnell's most significant recent votes. On 20 June 2025, she broke with the majority of Labour MPs four times on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — voting against Third Reading to block the bill entirely, opposing two amendments backed by Labour's majority, and supporting a new clause that would have barred applications where the wish to die was substantially driven by disability, financial pressures, or fear of being a burden. Her voting pattern places her among the bill's sceptics rather than its restricters-and-refiners, and her stance profile confirms this: she votes with pro-assisted-dying positions just 11% of the time against a Labour party average of 58%, and backs restriction-oriented votes at 78% compared to the party's 45%.

Beyond that high-profile rebellion, McKinnell is a 96.7% party-line voter whose participation rate of 65% sits below the Commons average. Her speeches are concentrated on education (89 contributions) and social care (39), reflecting her role as Minister for School Standards following her appointment to the Department for Education in July 2024 — the most significant piece of news coverage she has attracted. She votes consistently for workers' rights and progressive taxation, and never against tax increases. However, she scores low on parliamentary scrutiny (19%) and Lords oversight (0%), and opposed a judicial oversight amendment to the National Security (State Threats) Bill in June 2026.

She sits on the Public Accounts Committee, which adds a fiscal accountability dimension to her ministerial brief. Local coverage from Chronicle Live highlights constituency casework: she championed a 500-home Great Park estate resolution and welcomed solar panel funding for local schools. Recent news sentiment data (90 days, 19 articles) is largely neutral, dominated by culture-and-sport coverage where her average score is near zero, suggesting limited recent controversy or major local headlines.