Arlene McCarthy

Arlene McCarthy OBE
Member of the European Parliament for North West England Peak District (1994–1999)
In office 1994 – 1 July 2014
Preceded by	position established
Succeeded by	Theresa Griffin
Personal details
Born	1960 (age 63–64)
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Other political affiliations	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Alma mater	University of Manchester
Website	http://www.theresagriffin.eu

Arlene McCarthy OBE (born 10 October 1960, Belfast, Northern Ireland) was a Member of the European Parliament for the Peak District (European Parliament constituency) from 1994 to 1999 and for North West England from 1994 to 2014, in both cases for the Labour Party.

Career before politics

McCarthy graduated from South Bank Polytechnic (now London South Bank University) in 1983 with BA (Hons) proceeding to attend the Free University of Berlin and then later attending the University of Manchester to conduct PhD studies.

After completing studies McCarthy was employed as a lecturer in International Politics and Regional Studies at the Free University of Berlin, and was also employed at the European Parliament working for the Labour MEP Glyn Ford.

Upon returning to Britain McCarthy worked as the Principal European Liaison Officer at Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council, until her election to the European Parliament.

European Parliament

First elected in 1994, McCarthy was re-elected in 1999 to represent the newly formed North West England constituency. Having represented the same constituency since, she was top of the list of candidates from the Labour Party at the 2009 European elections.

McCarthy held a number of positions within Parliament. As the Labour Party was a member of the Party of European Socialists, she sat in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats parliamentary group. McCarthy was Chair of the Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection and, later, vice-chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

In January 2014 McCarthy announced she would not be seeking re-election in the June 2014 European Parliament Election.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours.

References

• European Regional Development Strategies: Responses of Two Northern Regions, Local Government Policy Making, Vol.20, No 5, May 1994

External links

• Official website
• Arlene McCarthy MEP and Software Patents (FFII page detailing her proposing legislation allowing the patenting of software)
• Another FFII page Archived 24 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
• Profile at European Parliament website Archived 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine