Born in 1944, Glenys Kinnock was educated at Holyhead Comprehensive School and graduated from the University of Wales College Cardiff in education and history. She has been a teacher in secondary, primary, infant and nursery schools.

Glenys was elected to the European Parliament in 1994 and re-elected in 1999 and 2004. She now represents the whole of Wales and is a Member of the European Parliament's Development and Co-operation Committee.

She is Co-President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific / EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and Labour Party spokesperson on International Development in the European Parliament.  Among her special interests are international development, disability rights, ethical business and fairtrade, human rights, gender issues, children's rights, education and the steel industry.

Glenys founded and is President of One World Action, the Development NGO. She is also Patron of the Burma Campaign, the Drop the Debt Campaign, Vice President of Parliamentarians for Global Action, Board Member International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Board Member World Parliamentarian Magazine and a Council Member of Voluntary Service Overseas.

Mrs Kinnock is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, she is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales College Newport, the University of Wales Bangor and holds Honorary Doctorates from Thames Valley University, Brunel University and Kingston University.

Glenys married Neil Kinnock, now Lord Kinnock of Bedwellty, in 1967 and they have two children and four grandchildren.