Martin Callanan is the first ever Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the North East Region of the United Kingdom. He was elected in June 1999 and re-elected in 2004.

Before his election to the European Parliament Martin Callanan worked as a project engineer at Scottish and Newcastle Breweries and holds a BSc degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

As a Member of the European Parliament, Martin sits on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee. The parliamentary committees meet once or twice a month in Brussels. They draw up, amend and adopt legislative proposals and own-initiative reports. They consider Commission and Council proposals and, where necessary, draw up reports to be presented to the plenary assembly. Martin Callanan is also the Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee for the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and serves on the Parliament's Delegation to Central Asia and Mongolia.