Eryl Margaret McNally, (born 11 April 1942), is a former Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the East of England United Kingdom.
Contents |
She was born and brought up in Bangor, Wales[1] but has lived in Abbots Langley, near Watford in Hertfordshire, since the 1960s.
Before being elected as an MEP in 1994, she was a teacher of modern languages and European studies, having spent several years as Head of Modern Foreign Languages at St. Michael's Catholic High School, County National Curriculum Co-ordinator for Modern Languages for Buckinghamshire Education Advisory Service and then an OFSTED inspector.
McNally is fluent in French, German, Spanish and has a good understanding of Italian. She is married with two grown up children and one grandson.
McNally joined the Labour Party at the age of 16 and served as a Parish Councillor, a District Councillor on Three Rivers District Council (from 1970–1976) and County Councillor on Hertfordshire County Council (from 1986 to 1995) before being elected to the European Parliament.[1] She represented the Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes constituency from 1994 to 1999 and the East of England constituency from 1999[2] until she stood down from the Parliament in 2004, saying that the regional constituencies were too large an area to represent and that no-one had "the foggiest idea" who she was.[3]
Her political interests in the European Parliament were in energy, renewable energy and environmental issues. She is a former trustee of the National Energy Foundation, a vice-president of the European Forum on Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES) and was formerly vice-chair of the European Parliament's Energy and Research Committee.[4][5] She also served as a substitute member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Equal Opportunities and as a member of the delegation for relations with the countries of South America and MERCOSUR.
She was an opponent of the Iraq war.[6]
In 2003, McNally was awarded Chevalier in the Légion d'Honneur in recognition of her efforts to improve understanding between Britain and France[7] and was appointed an honorary Doctor of Science by Cranfield University.[8]
She was a member of the Transport and General Workers Union, the World Development Movement, Action for Southern Africa, the Socialist Education Association, the Labour Animal Welfare Society, Amnesty International, the Co-operative Party and the Fabian Society.