Frank McNally is the Labour MP for Coatbridge and Bellshill, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, McNally won 19,291 votes, representing 49.8% of the vote. The Scottish National Party (SNP) candidate, Steven Bonnar, received 12,947 votes (33.4%), while the Reform UK candidate, Fiona McRae, secured 2,601 votes (6.7%). McNally was duly elected with a majority of 6,344.

The Coatbridge and Bellshill constituency is located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was newly created ahead of the 2024 election, broadly based on the former Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill seat.

Political Career

McNally serves as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the Scotland Office (since September 2025). A PPS acts as an unpaid parliamentary assistant, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. The role is widely regarded as the first step on the ministerial ladder. Although they cannot speak for the government in debates, a PPS is bound by collective responsibility and becomes part of the so-called “payroll vote”, expected to support the official line in all divisions.

McNally has sat as a member of the House of Commons procedure committee (2024-2025) and work and pensions committee (2024-2025).

McNally is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for further education and lifelong learning.

McNally delivered his maiden speech on 23 July 2024 during a debate on immigration and home affairs.

In it, he said: “The contributions that immigrants have made, and continue to make, to our economy, our public services and our communities more broadly, are immense.

“Sadly, not all of that history is good. It is a tale often blighted by racism, sectarianism and hatred, which we should fight every day to root out – and keep out – of our society.”

He added: “I welcome the provisions outlined in the gracious speech [king’s speech], from a serious plan to grow the economy to supporting businesses and improving public services; from GB Energy – which, in case anyone happened to miss the memo, will be headquartered in Scotland – to a new deal for working people that addresses the scourge of low pay and tackles exploitative practices, and a real strategy to end the scourge of poverty.”

Before entering parliament, McNally was elected as a Labour councillor on North Lanarkshire Council in May 2012. He stood down from the council in 2024.

Political Views

Leadership elections

Labour deputy leadership 2025: McNally was one of 175 Labour MPs who nominated Bridget Phillipson for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Phillipson, the serving education secretary, was widely viewed as the candidate favoured by Downing Street and the party leadership. She secured 175 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 80 required to reach the final ballot. She was ultimately defeated by Lucy Powell.

Factional identity and party tradition

Get Britain Working Group: McNally has been listed as a member of the Get Britain Working Group of Labour MPs – a caucus supportive of the Starmer leadership’s position on welfare. The group argues for a “new social contract built on employment and opportunity”, focusing on the rising number of people out of the workforce due to long-term sickness.

In an open letter, issued upon the group’s founding in March 2025, the group expressed its support for the government’s welfare measures set out in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. The bill was subject to a significant revolt of over 120 Labour MPs – which forced ministers into a series of concessions shortly before its first vote in the House of Commons.

Ahead of the bill’s fraught second reading debate, the MPs wrote: “Our Labour values are built on a simple but powerful idea: that every individual, regardless of background or circumstance, should have the support they need to make the most of their lives.

“Everyone who is capable of working deserves the security, dignity and agency that employment offers. Of course, there are some people who are not able to work and they must be treated with compassion and respect. But for those that can, we must restore the pathways to opportunity which are currently so sparse for millions of people.

“It is exactly what a Labour government exists to do.”

Usdaw: McNally is a member of the Usdaw Union Parliamentary Group – a group of MPs who are members of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) and work generally to represent the union’s interests within parliament.

Electoral reform

Fair elections APPG: McNally is listed as a supporter of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Proportional representation bill: In December 2024, McNally voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): McNally voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

McNally voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): McNally voted against a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

McNally was one of 25 Labour MPs to vote against the amendment.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, McNally was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Born Francis Joseph McNally on 24 January 1988, McNally has lived in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, his entire life. He attended St Gerard’s Primary School and Cardinal Newman High School locally.

McNally studied at Strathclyde University of Glasgow, graduating in 2009.  

McNally has worked as an assistant to Labour MSP Mark Griffin.  

Personal Life

McNally is married.

Trivia

McNally was appointed as a PPS in September 2025.