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