She was first elected to
Edinburgh District Council as a member of the
Scottish Labour Party to represent the Telford
ward in 1984, later becoming leader of the district council. In 1996 she was elected to represent the Muirhouse and Drylaw ward in the new
City of Edinburgh unitary authority. Following the local elections in May 2007 she was one of four councillors representing the new
Inverleith ward. She was elected the Lord Provost of Edinburgh on 8 May 2003, succeeding
Eric Milligan, however following elections on 3 May 2007, the Labour Party lost overall control of the City of Edinburgh and was succeeded in the office of Lord Provost by
Liberal Democrat George Grubb. Hinds fought the
Edinburgh West seat at the
1997 general election, placing third. At the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections she stood as Labour's candidate in the
Edinburgh Western constituency. The seat was won by
Colin Keir of the SNP. Hinds came third behind Keir and the Liberal Democrats'
Margaret Smith, who had held the seat since 1999. Hinds was the convener of Edinburgh Council's Transport and Environment Committee from 2012 to 2017. In 2016 Councillor Hinds announced that she was stepping down from politics and did not contest the Labour Seat of Edinburgh North and Leith, or stand in the 2017 local elections. ==Personal life==