Editing Arlene McCarthy (section)

==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.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61092|supp=y|page=N13|date=31 December 2014}}</ref><ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391413/New_Year_Honours_List_2015.pdf 2015 New Year Honours List]</ref>