He was an Independent member of Berwickshire District Council from 1974 to 1978, and of the Borders NHS Health Board 1975–78. One of his Home forebears was a Member of the (original) Parliament of Scotland, for Berwickshire, in 1707 who opposed the Act of Union. As a delegate to the Labour Party Conference in 1976, Home-Robertson moved the resolution which committed the Party to devolution for Scotland, and throughout his career at Westminster he campaigned for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament. Home-Robertson was the successful Labour candidate at the Berwick and East Lothian by-election in 1978, following the death of Labour MP John P Mackintosh.