Steve Darling MP: votes, interests and costs
Steve Darling represents Torbay in the House of Commons for Liberal Democrat. Current post: Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Work and Pensions), held since 18 September 2024.
Offices and committees
Steve Darling holds this post, according to the Parliament Members API.
Ministerial and shadow posts
| Post | Department | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Work and Pensions) | Opposition Department | 18 September 2024 | Current |
Committees
| Committee or post | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Work and Pensions Committee | 28 October 2024 | Current |
Earlier committees
| Committee or post | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Pension Schemes Bill | 15 July 2025 | 11 September 2025 |
| Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill | 12 February 2025 | 18 March 2025 |
| Employment Rights Bill | 13 November 2024 | 16 January 2025 |
Source: Parliament Members API, read 15 October 2026, SHA-256 22ae9eea16e2.
Register of interests
Steve Darling has 8 entries in the Register of Members' Financial Interests, the earliest registered on 2 August 2024 and the latest on 26 August 2026. By category: Donations and other support (including loans) for activities as an MP (5), Visits outside the UK (1), Gifts, benefits and hospitality from UK sources (1), Miscellaneous (1). Each entry is quoted as published, with its registration date; payments linked to an entry are listed under it.
Josie Forte - £2,000.00
- How the donation was received: (a) Support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation
- Whether the benefit was monetary or in kind: Monetary
- Value of the benefit: £2,000.00
- Name of the donor: Josie Forte
- Status of the donor: Individual
Thomas Davy - £2,000.00
- How the donation was received: (a) Support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation
- Whether the benefit was monetary or in kind: Monetary
- Value of the benefit: £2,000.00
- Name of the donor: Thomas Davy
- Status of the donor: Individual
Baby Care Domiciliary Care Ltd - £5,000.00
- How the donation was received: (a) Support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation
- Whether the benefit was monetary or in kind: Monetary
- Value of the benefit: £5,000.00
- Name of the donor: Baby Care Domiciliary Care Ltd
- Status of the donor: Company
- Name of the donor company: Baby Care Domiciliary Care Ltd
- Company registration number: 08708134
- Source of company identifier: Companies House
International visit to Ukraine between 19 February 2026 and 25 February 2026
- Purpose of the visit: Attend the Yalta European Strategy Conference, fostering good relations between UK and Ukraine MPs.
- Date Member left the UK: 2026-02-19
- Date Member returned to the UK: 2026-02-25
Jerome Betts - £2,500.00
- How the donation was received: (a) Support linked to an MP but received by a local party organisation or indirectly via a central party organisation
- Whether the benefit was monetary or in kind: Monetary
- Value of the benefit: £2,500.00
- Name of the donor: Jerome Betts
- Status of the donor: Individual
Jerome Betts - £2,000.00
- How the donation was received: (b) Any other support not included in Category 2(a)
- Whether the benefit was monetary or in kind: Monetary
- Value of the benefit: £2,000.00
- Date on which the benefit was received: 2025-09-19
- Date on which the benefit was accepted: 2025-10-15
- Name of the donor: Jerome Betts
- Status of the donor: Individual
National Liberal Club - £1,552.86
- Whether the benefit was monetary or in kind: In kind
- Description of the payment: Honorary membership of the National Liberal Club as newly elected MP from September 2024 until December 2025
- Value of the benefit: £1,552.86
- Date on which the benefit was received: 2024-08-15
- Date on which the benefit was accepted: 2024-09-02
- Name of the donor: National Liberal Club
- Status of the donor: Company
- Name of the donor company: National Liberal Club
Member of Torquay Town Deal Board. This is an unpaid role.
- Date on which the interest arose, or became registrable: 2024-08-02
- The type of interest: Unpaid role
Source: Register of Members' Financial Interests API, read 27 October 2026. The register entry on UK Parliament.
Business costs (IPSA)
IPSA, the body that sets and pays MPs' business costs, records staffing spending of £179,112 for Steve Darling in 2024-25 against a budget of £185,538. IPSA lists office spending of £26,126 in the same year. Budgets for that year run from the MP's election on 4 July 2024, as IPSA's reason column states. IPSA publishes each budget, the amount spent and the amount left (the remaining amounts are in IPSA's files); no total across budgets is published, so none is given here.
| IPSA figure | 2024-25 |
|---|---|
| Staffing: spent | £179,112.25 |
| Office costs: spent | £26,126.14 |
| Accommodation: spent | £21,118.25 |
| Travel and subsistence (no cap): spent | £9,112.58 |
| Other costs (no cap): spent | £0.00 |
Budgets set for 2024-25: office costs £30,426, staffing £185,538, accommodation £21,667 (Standard non-London area budget from 5 July 2024, and a start-up supplement of £6,000; Standard non-London area budget from 5 July 2024; Standard budget for renting a property in the London area from 5 July 2024).
IPSA's CSVs for 2024-25, read 15 October 2026; constituency as IPSA lists it: Torbay BC.
Staff roles listed by IPSA, 2024-25
Office Manager (fixed term part time), Personal Assistant (fixed term full time), Caseworker (fixed term part time), Caseworker (permanent part time), Senior Executive Officer (fixed term full time), Senior Communications Advisor (fixed term full time), Senior Caseworker (permanent full time), Research Officer (fixed term full time), Caseworker (casual), Constituency Assistant (permanent part time), Intern (fixed term part time), Caseworker (permanent full time) (IPSA CSV)
IPSA annual publications · All MPs' 2024-25 costs (table and CSV)
Votes in the Commons
The Commons Votes API records 418 votes by Steve Darling in divisions since 4 July 2024. Of these, 37 were votes on statutory instruments or procedural motions, which are not listed below. The latest 30 votes on bills and motions are below, from 13 July 2026 to 21 October 2026. On 21 October 2026 Steve Darling voted Aye on "Opposition day motion: Support for British farmers".
Source: Commons Votes API, read 27 October 2026. Only divisions in which a vote is recorded for the MP are counted. The full list on UK Parliament.
Written questions
The Written Questions API lists 670 written questions from Steve Darling since 4 July 2024. The latest 10 were addressed to Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department for Education and 1 other departments.
Diseases: Children and Young People
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the "Improving affordable access to essential medicines, diagnostics and health technologies for children a …
Marine Environment: Offshore Industry
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 8 September 2026 to question 26686, when the planned end of the research and development programme on Marine Net Gain is.
Inland Waterways: Access
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the Access to Nature Green Paper includes provisions for increased public access to unregulated inland waterways.
Water: Standards
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of sewage discharges such as those affecting Torbay on recreational water users, including paddlers; and what steps she is taking t …
Dental Services: South West
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans her Department has to increase the number of dentists in a) Torbay and b) the South West.
Dentistry: Higher Education
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans her Department has to increase the number of undergraduate dentistry places.
Adult Education: Regulation
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what oversight and regulation is in place for private adult skills education providers in England.
Water: Standards
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the risks posed to recreational water users, including paddlers, by sewage discharges such as those affecting Torbay; and what steps she is taking to en …
Poverty
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he has assessed how far back in time it is possible to produce an adjusted poverty estimate of Households Below Average Income (HBAI); and if his Department will commit to going back as far as they c …
Marine Environment: Offshore Industry
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to introduce marine net gain as part of offshore developments.
Source: Written Questions API, read 15 October 2026, SHA-256 f66195b78c32. Question wording as listed by the API, which gives the opening words of longer questions. All questions by Steve Darling.
2024 general election
At the 4 July 2024 general election Torbay returned Steve Darling with a majority of 5,349: 18,937 votes, 41.1% of those cast, against 13,588 for Kevin Foster. Result as published: LD gain from Con.
Commons Library results, read 14 October 2026 · Torbay figures
Built 15 October 2026 from official records; register entries and votes are re-read on a rolling schedule. This page sets out what the record shows and gives no rating of the MP. Official UK Parliament page · All MPs · Something wrong? Tell us.