Melanie Ward.

One of the most striking votes cast against the assisted dying bill came from Ward, who in June 2025 broke with the Labour majority four times on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — voting against Third Reading, against two government-backed amendments, and for a clause that would have barred applications driven by fear of being a burden or by financial hardship. Her voting record places her 47 percentage points below her Labour colleagues on assisted dying access, and 33 points above them on restrictions — a consistent and principled position, not a one-off rebellion.

Beyond that, Ward is a 97.2% party-line voter across 428 votes (77% participation, slightly below the Commons average). Her speeches cluster around defence, the economy, social care, and health — 218 contributions across 138 debates since July 2024. She votes strongly in line with Labour on progressive taxation and fiscal responsibility, and deviates most sharply from party colleagues on parliamentary scrutiny (29% aligned) and welfare expansion (38%). She holds no committee roles.

Outside the chamber, Ward has drawn positive local coverage: she secured regeneration funding for Kirkcaldy, assisted over 2,500 constituents with casework, and publicly challenged the SNP over a planning decision she characterised as favouring a wealthy developer over local residents. She also visited a Kirkcaldy Islamic centre after a racist attack, facing personal threats in the process. Recent 90-day coverage (four articles, average sentiment 0.60) is broadly positive on constituency performance. Parliamentary speech data and voting records are available; no additional committee or register-of-interests data was supplied.