Arlene McCarthy OBE (born 10 October 1960,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

) was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

for the Labour Party from

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Career before politics

McCarthy graduated from South Bank Polytechnic (now London South Bank University) in 1983 with

BA (Hons) Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

proceeding to attend the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

and then later attending the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

to conduct

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

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 The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

working for the Socialist Group. Upon returning to Britain McCarthy worked as the Principal European Liaison Officer at

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council Kirklees Council is the local authority providing most local government services for the borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council and one of five constituent councils of the West Yorkshire Combined Aut ...

, 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, being a member of the Party of European Socialists, she sat in the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

group. McCarthy was Chair of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection and since 2009 served as the 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 The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours.2015 New Year Honours List
/ref>

Footnotes

References

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

External links

Official website
( FFII page detailing her proposing legislation allowing the patenting of software)
Another FFII pageProfile at European Parliament website
1960 births Living people Alumni of London South Bank University Politicians from Belfast Labour Party (UK) MEPs MEPs for England 1994–1999 MEPs for England 1999–2004 MEPs for England 2004–2009 MEPs for England 2009–2014 Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century women MEPs for England 21st-century women MEPs for England {{UK-MEP-stub