He was first elected for the
Dumbarton constituency,
Scotland, at the
1987 general election, after the previous MP,
Ian Campbell retired. His original majority was a little over 2,000. Dumbarton constituency was replaced with the new
West Dunbartonshire constituency for the
2005 general election, which McFall won with a majority over 12,500. In 1995 he introduced a
private member's bill, the
Wild Mammals (Protection) Bill which, although unsuccessful, informed the
Hunting Act 2004 outlawing the hunting of mammals by dogs in England and Wales. He was a
whip and junior minister (for Education, Training and Employment, Health and Community Relations, then in 1999 for Economy and Education) at the
Northern Ireland Office from 1998 to 1999. In 2001 he was appointed Chair of the
Treasury Select Committee, and reappointed for a second term in this position in 2005. The committee conducted inquiries into the banking crisis, producing evidence of the
bonus culture, the lack of banking qualifications among many top bankers and poor oversight of the industry by the
Financial Services Authority. On 29 January 2010, McFall announced his intention to stand down as an MP at the
2010 general election.
House of Lords in 2023 On 17 June 2010, he was created a
life peer as
Baron McFall of Alcluith,
of Dumbarton in Dunbartonshire, and was
introduced in the
House of Lords on 6 July 2010. He was the Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development (Apgood). In July 2016, he was appointed as
Chairman of Committees of the
House of Lords with effect from 1 September 2016. He was known as Senior Deputy Speaker while holding the office. In the
2021 Lord Speaker election, McFall was elected as
Lord Speaker, succeeding
Lord Fowler. In 2023 he suggested the House of Lords needs more independent, expert peers. Lord McFall stated he was making no direct criticism of recent peerage choices, but the upper house was in danger of becoming "out of sync" with its balance of legislators. McFall planned to meet
Rishi Sunak to lift a cap limiting the number of new, non-party expert peers that can be created by the
House of Lords Appointments Commission, currently set at a maximum of two a year. In October 2025, he resigned as Lord Speaker with effect from 2 February 2026. He was succeeded by the Lord Forsyth of Drumlean. ==Other activities==