Read was educated at Bishopshalt Grammar School and the University of Nottingham, before becoming a laboratory technician, then an employment officer, and a lecturer.
At the 1979 general election, she stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in Melton, and at the 1983 general election, she was unsuccessful in North West Leicestershire.
[1] Read became an MEP in 1989, representing first Leicester and then Nottingham and Leicestershire North West until 1999.
From 1999, she represented the enlarged seat of the East Midlands.
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