by 1947, mcintosh had moved to london, and that year she was elected to represent battersea north on the london county council. she served on its education committee, spending a period as the committee's chair, while also working as a lecturer in the social sciences at bedford college. in 1952, she moved to become an alderman on the council, and in the 1964 greater london council election she won a seat in hammersmith. she was involved in planning the creation of the inner london education authority, but was taken ill and died before it or the greater london council were formally established.