At Westminster, Home-Robertson served on the Scottish Affairs (1979–83) and Defence (1990 -) Select committees, and was Chairman of the Scottish Group of Labour M.P.s, 1982–83. He spent time as Opposition Scottish Whip, 1983–84, as Labour's Opposition Front Bench Spokesman on: Agriculture (1984–87), Scottish Affairs (1987–88), Agricultural and Rural Affairs (1988 -), and on Food (1989 -). He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Dr Jack Cunningham at the Ministry of Agriculture and then at the Cabinet Office. He announced that would stand down from the Scottish Parliament in 2007, and was succeeded by Iain Gray.