Member of Parliament
Blair McDougall
Labour MP for East Renfrewshire
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
At a glanceBlair McDougall is a Labour MP for East Renfrewshire, and has represented the seat for 2 years. They currently serve as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade). They have cast 413 votes in Commons divisions (72% attendance), tabled 121 written questions and registered 7 financial interests.
Attendance is votes cast as a share of the 575 Commons divisions since the 2024 election; Blair McDougall did not vote in 162. A rebellion is a vote against the way most of their own party voted; free votes, where no party line applies, are left out.
Party-loyalty figures are our own analysis of the official voting records (recorded votes only; they do not describe the formal whip). How we work this out.
Biography
He currently holds the Government post of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade).
Current roles
- Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) Government post · Department for Business and Trade since 7 Sep 2025
- East Renfrewshire Representation · Elected 1 time since 4 Jul 2024
- Labour Party since 4 Jul 2024
Voting record
Voting alignment
Votes most like
-
Sean Woodcock
Labour
100.0% · 400 of 400 shared votes
-
Sojan Joseph
Labour
100.0% · 399 of 399 shared votes
-
Liz Twist
Labour
100.0% · 397 of 397 shared votes
-
Johanna Baxter
Labour
100.0% · 380 of 380 shared votes
-
Alan Strickland
Labour
100.0% · 380 of 380 shared votes
Votes least like
-
Sir Mel Stride
Conservative
0.9% · 2 of 223 shared votes
-
George Freeman
Conservative
0.9% · 2 of 212 shared votes
-
Sir Oliver Dowden
Conservative
1.2% · 3 of 260 shared votes
-
Chris Philp
Conservative
1.2% · 3 of 260 shared votes
-
Sir Roger Gale
Conservative
1.2% · 3 of 246 shared votes
Alignment figures are our own analysis of the official voting records (recorded votes only; they do not describe the formal whip). How we work this out.
Register of financial interests
From the official Register; shown as registered.
Miscellaneous7
- Membership of Advisory Board to Standing Group on Atrocity Crimes (registered 16 Jun 2025)
- Member of board of the Labour Campaign for Human Rights. This is an unpaid role. (registered 7 Jun 2025)
- Appointment as a patron of Hong Kong Watch. (registered 14 Mar 2025)
- Member of Eastwood Scouts District Council. This is an unpaid role. (registered 5 Feb 2025)
- Member of the Executive Committee of the British Group of the Interparliamentary Union. This is an unpaid role. (registered 5 Feb 2025)
- Unpaid Director of Uyghur Campaign Ltd. (registered 31 Jul 2024)
- Chair of Stop Uyghur Genocide Charity. This is an unpaid role. (registered 31 Jul 2024)
Written questions
Universal Credit: Disability
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the availability of residential training places for disabled young people in Scotland on proposed changes to eligibility for Universal Credit for
Answer · 16 Sep 2025
No assessment has been made. We welcomed views on raising the age someone can access the Universal Credit Health Element to 22, as part of our Green Paper consultation, which closed on 30 June. We are considering the responses to this consultation, and we...
X Corp: Artificial Intelligence
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with X.com on the potential impact of the output of its Grok AI on community safety.
Answer · 21 Jul 2025
The Government’s commitment to tackling online harms applies across all social media companies, and we engage with all major platforms in this regard. Many generative AI services have functionalities that bring them into scope of the Online Safety Act – s...
Government Departments: X Corp
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government plans to continue to use X.com as a platform for government communications.
Answer · 17 Jul 2025
The Government uses a range of channels to reach and engage the public. Use of these platforms is assessed against the high standards for digital safety, as set out in the Government Communication Service (GCS) SAFE framework.
British Nationals Abroad: Crimes of Violence
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many consular cases involving violent crime against British tourists his Department has dealt with for customers of Tui Group.
Answer · 29 Jul 2025
Whether or not a British national was travelling with a particular tour company, airline or other business when they sought consular assistance is not captured in our case management system.
St Lucia: Crimes of Violence
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many consular cases involving violent crime his Department has dealt with in St Lucia in each of the last five years.
Answer · 29 Jul 2025
Between 2019 and 2024 British nationals sought consular assistance as a result of violent crime on 15 occasions.
Georgia: Civil Liberties
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of (a) prosecutions of opposition party leaders and (b) levels of repression of civil
Answer · 15 Jul 2025
I am seriously concerned by the recent sentences imposed on several prominent Georgian opposition figures. These are clearly politically motivated and aimed at blocking the political opposition from future elections. On 23 June I called on Georgian Dream ...
Government Departments: Procurement
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to clause 6(a) of the UK-USA Economic and Prosperity Deal, published on 8 May 2025, if he will make it his policy to bar Chinese companies with links to forced labour in Xinjiang from Government p
Answer · 25 Jun 2025
The UK Government is committed to tackling human rights abuses including modern slavery and human trafficking in public supply chains. On 24 February 2025 the Procurement Act came into force, providing contracting authorities with stronger powers to exclu...
Import Controls: Xinjiang
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to clause 6(a) of the UK-USA Economic and Prosperity Deal, published on 8 May 2025, whether she plans to direct Border Force to search direct cargo flights from Xinjiang to the UK to en
Answer · 26 Jun 2025
Border Force does not routinely assess whether goods on freight entering the UK may have been made using forced labour, but we work closely with law enforcement partners to share intelligence to ensure all goods abide by customs and excise rules.The Gover...
Early day motions
| 18 Jun 2025 | Include Me 2 family festival | 2 sig. |
| 18 Jun 2025 | Monteiths and the Southside Bar at the Food Awards Scotland 2025 | 2 sig. |
| 2 Jun 2025 | Arthurlie Football Club | 2 sig. |
| 2 Jun 2025 | Neilston Football Club | 2 sig. |
| 6 May 2025 | The Malletsheugh and the Innovative Menu of the Year Award | 2 sig. |
| 6 May 2025 | The Cartvale and The White Cart pubs and the National Pub and Bar Awards 2025 | 3 sig. |
Speeches in the chamber
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
Having got through this urgent question without making any commitments on behalf of my hon. Friend the Minister for Industry, I will give one now and say that I am sure he would agree to the meetings the hon. Gentleman suggests. There are …
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
We did not take the decision lightly, and we would have preferred commercial options. We are now 11 hours and 12 minutes into ownership of the company. We are deeply committed and open to private sector partnerships to ensure the future of…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
I am disappointed in the hon. Gentleman’s lack of faith in my career prospects. I am sure that the Minister for Industry, who has deep expertise in steel and is an excellent Minister, intends to update the House on the strategic objectives…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
As Minister with responsibility for regulations, if there are any particular regulatory issues that the hon. Gentleman has in mind, I encourage him to bring them to me and I will pursue them across the system. In addition to the reviewed g…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
On the point about a competitive rate, I refer the hon. Gentleman to an answer I gave a moment ago on the investment the Government are putting in across the steel industry to ensure costs are reduced. On the orderbook, through the work we…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
As the Minister for Industry has set out, on the issue of cost, it is our intention to continue with the practice under the previous Act of coming to Parliament on a quarterly basis with a written ministerial statement to set out the costs…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the measures we took were necessary because of the ending of the steel safeguards. Without the measures we took, there was a real prospect of our becoming the global dumping ground for uncompetitively …
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
As the steel strategy set out, we believe the most sustainable and competitive future across the industry in general is through technologies such as electric arc. The blast furnaces at Scunthorpe will be operational for the immediate term.…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
I could not agree more. On a day when many of us will be thinking about travelling back to our constituencies by rail for the summer, it is worth noting that 80% of the rails we will be travelling on are made by British Steel. My hon. Frie…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman on that point. The Government are very clear today that we are seeking that partnership with the private sector across the steel industry. From our side, the partnership comes with significant res…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
This decision is of critical importance to the entire economy, our national security and our national infrastructure. However, as the Father of the House has said, it is also a matter of getting to the end of the month for thousands of peo…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
I thank the Father of the House for the spirit in which he asks that question. The key moment for jobs was the intervention last year, which resulted in the cancellation of the consultation on about 2,700 redundancies. The blast furnaces o…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
As my hon. Friend will be aware, the point of the steel strategy is to do exactly what he describes, which is to ensure that a far greater proportion of UK demand, including for specialist steels, is produced in the UK. That demand will in…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
Let me begin with the hon. Lady’s question about relations with China. We have been very clear that this decision was made in the national interest, not because of the national identity of those who previously owned the site. We have been …
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
My hon. Friend is quite right to say that steelmaking communities have been impacted by previous Governments standing by rather than intervening —we have seen it in community after community over decades. As a Community trade union member,…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
British Steel is now owned by the people. We will appoint non-executive directors and a board to take forward the transformation of the company so that it becomes productive, profitable and resilient. Part of the conversation will, of cour…
16 Jul 2026 British Steel
I express regret and apologies, Mr Speaker, not only for the issue you just raised, but that we were not able to lay the regulations before Parliament before they came into force. After very careful consideration informed by the significan…
7 Jul 2026 Summer Jobs
Of course he does. It is in the Labour party manifesto. He has spoken about backing our industrial strategy, and this is an incredibly important part of it. The hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) spoke about how beauti…
7 Jul 2026 Summer Jobs
As was said earlier, we believe that people working full time should be able to afford the basics in life. My point is that we are dealing with the issue of youth unemployment by incentivising businesses to employ young people. Many Opp…
7 Jul 2026 Summer Jobs
Those people will still be able to have those contracts under the legislation, but we are talking about potentially hundreds of people in the right hon. Member’s constituency—that was his formulation—who rely on zero-hours contracts as the…
Source: contributions on parliament.uk.
Full parliamentary career
Committee memberships
- Foreign Affairs Committee 21 Oct 2024 – 27 Oct 2025
Expenses
Contact & offices
0141 280 2005
Parliamentary office
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Constituency office
8 Benview Road, Clarkston, Glasgow, G76 7PP
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Blair McDougall, answered from official Parliament data.
Who is Blair McDougall?
Blair McDougall is a Member of Parliament representing East Renfrewshire in the House of Commons. See Blair McDougall's official Parliament profile.
Which party does Blair McDougall represent?
Blair McDougall sits as Labour. See Blair McDougall's official Parliament profile.
Which constituency does Blair McDougall represent?
Blair McDougall is the Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire. See Blair McDougall's official Parliament profile.
How long has Blair McDougall been an MP?
Blair McDougall has served in the House of Commons for 2 years. See Blair McDougall's official Parliament profile.
What registered interests are listed for Blair McDougall?
Blair McDougall has 7 entries in the Register of Members' Financial Interests. See Blair McDougall's official Parliament profile.
Source: this MP's official Parliament profile. Last updated 26 Jul 2026.