Stringer was a member of the "Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee" until 1999. He then served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office until 2001. After a spell on the back benches and as a government whip, he spent the last six years of the Labour Government as a member of the Transport Select Committee. He campaigned against a proposed Congestion Charge in Greater Manchester. In September 2008, Stringer became the first Labour MP to publicly call for Gordon Brown to resign as Prime Minister.