Wales · 71,738Boundary · 2023

Torfaen

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Dispatch
Apr 2026

A safe Lab seat, won with 43% of the vote in 2024. Covers Cwmbrân, Pontypool and Abersychan. Population 92,263. Recorded crime is 99% below the national average.

A Cabinet minister first and foremost, Nick Thomas-Symonds currently serves as Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office -- a senior government role that explains both his low voting participation (37%, well below the Commons average) and his consistent alignment with government positions. His most notable recent independent action came on the assisted dying bill in June 2025, where he broke from his party on four separate amendments, voting to close loopholes that would have allowed voluntary self-starvation to qualify someone as terminally ill, and supporting procedural and continuity provisions the Labour majority opposed. This marks one of the few occasions he has publicly diverged from government.

As a 95% party-line voter, Thomas-Symonds broadly follows the Labour whip, including backing the government's rejection of multiple Lords amendments on the Crime and Policing and Victims and Courts Bills in early 2026. His stance profile shows stronger-than-average alignment with climate action (+30 percentage points above his party) and end-of-life autonomy, but notably lower alignment on welfare expansion (-27pp), civil liberties, and housing development. In Parliament, his speeches span economy and jobs, health, social care, and defence -- reflecting a broad ministerial brief rather than a narrow specialism.

181
Commons votes
This parliament
£26k
Median income
HMRC · 2024
71.7k
Electorate
2024 GE

Lab held for 5 consecutive elections.

Current Member of Parliament

Nick Thomas-Symonds

Nick Thomas-Symonds

Labour Party

The Rt Hon Nick Thomas-Symonds is the Labour MP for Torfaen, and has been an MP continually since 7 May 2015. He currently holds the Government post of Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office.

Notable Votes

MPs voted on the Third Reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill — the final Commons vote on whether to pass the assisted dying legislation in its amended form. Passing Third Reading sends the Bill to the House of Lords.

MP voted NoAgainst party majority

Vote on whether to add a provision to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ensuring that if an independent doctor dies or becomes too ill to complete their assessment before signing off on an assisted dying request, a further referral can be made to another doctor — mirroring an existing provision in the Bill for the attending doctor.

MP voted YesAgainst party majority

Vote on an amendment to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill that would prevent someone from qualifying as 'terminally ill' under the Bill solely because they have voluntarily stopped eating and drinking. This matters because without the amendment, a person could potentially use voluntary starvation to meet the terminal illness threshold and access an assisted death.

MP voted NoAgainst party majority

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Voting at a Glance

A safe Lab seat, won with 43% of the vote in 2024. Covers Cwmbrân, Pontypool and Abersychan. Population 92,263. Recorded crime is 99% below the national average.

2024 General Election

§ 06This week in Westminster.Live · today’s sittingOrder Paper · refreshed daily

Thomas-Symonds’s scheduled Commons activity this week — whipped divisions, oral questions, debates — drawn from the House of Commons Order Paper.

§ 07The record, at a glance.187 divisions voted

Two readings of the same data. Issue volume shows where Thomas-Symonds has cast the most ballots — a proxy for engagement, not direction. Notable votes are the moments where the whip was free or where they broke ranks.

Issue volume
Top issues by total divisions voted · cumulative this Parliament
Taxation
38
Economy
31
Constitution and Democracy
23
Welfare and Benefits
19
Employment
16
Crime & Policing
13
Notable votes
Free votes and rebellions — moments the MP’s own judgment matters more than the whip
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Third Reading20 Jun 2025 · free vote
No
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Amendment 1220 Jun 2025 · free vote
Aye
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill: Amendment 7720 Jun 2025 · free vote
No
§ 08The local picture.18 wards

Constituencies are not uniform. Below — the local council make-up, key facts worth knowing, and the neighbouring seats on either side.

WardCouncillorVotesParty
AbersychanChris Tew1,027Independ
AbersychanGiles Davies935Labour P
AbersychanLynda Clarkson772Labour P
BlaenavonJanet Jones843Independ
BlaenavonLiam James Cowles726Labour P
BlaenavonNick Horler818Independ
Coed EvaFiona Claire Cross435Labour P
CroesyceiliogJoanne Gauden948Labour P
CroesyceiliogRichard Giles Clark950Labour P
FairwaterJayne Watkins660Labour P
FairwaterRose Seabourne697Labour P
GreenmeadowMandy Owen427Labour P
Population (2021 Census)
92,263
Electorate 71,738 · 2024 register
Median income
£26,100
HMRC SPI 2024
Households renting privately
11.2%
England average 20.0%
Schools
33
0 primary · 0 secondary
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