When he was elected to parliament, Bruce served on the Scottish Affairs Select committee, and in 1986 was given a job by David Steel as a Spokesman on Energy and Scotland. He also became Rector of the University of Dundee in 1986 for three years. After the 1987 general election, at which Bruce's majority had increased to 9,519, he was briefly a spokesman on Education, before speaking on Trade and Industry later in 1987. After the amalgamation of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party and the formation of the Liberal Democrats he became the new party's Energy spokesman and at the same time became the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats under the new leadership of Paddy Ashdown. In 1989 he was appointed as the Environment spokesman, before having the Scotland portfolio after 1990.