Born in Oldham, Lancashire, Elizabeth McInnes was the fifth child of the eight children of Margaret Elizabeth and George Frederick McInnes. Her father was a sheet metal worker who died when she was 14 years old. Her mother brought the family up single-handedly from then on, taking on various jobs including running the Owain Glyndwr public house in Corwen, North Wales, then the Duke of York in Heyside, Oldham. Elizabeth McInnes was educated at Hathershaw Comprehensive School. She studied biochemistry at St Anne's College at the University of Oxford and completed a master's degree at the University of Surrey. Since 1981 she has worked for the NHS in London, Sheffield, Manchester and Oldham and was employed as a senior biochemist at the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust until the by-election. She was Branch Secretary of the Pennine Acute Branch for the UniteTrades Union and Chair of the National Health Sector Industrial Committee as well as a member of the Healthcare Science organising professional committee. Elizabeth McInnes has been a Rossendale borough councillor for Longholme ward since 2010 where she was the health lead and the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny. She stood down from the Council after the by-election in 2014.
In Parliament
In 2015, Elizabeth McInnes joined the Labour front bench, being appointed by new leader Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government team, joining Jon Trickett, Steve Reed, Lord Kennedy and Lord Beecham. Emma Lewell-Buck joined the team later. She had backed Andy Burnham in the 2015 Leadership election. Elizabeth McInnes backed Corbyn in a vote of no confidence but afterwards resigned from her Shadow position, saying she felt the outcome of the vote - resoundingly against Corbyn - left her with no option but to stand down. She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace him in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. In October 2016, she was re-appointed to Jeremy Corbyn's front bench as Shadow Foreign Office Minister. In August 2016, Elizabeth McInnes was named Parliamentarian of the Month by the road safety charity Brake for her campaigning work to obtain tougher sentences for those causing death and injury by dangerous driving. She was awarded Parliamentarian of the Year 2016 by Brake for the same campaign.
