Raffan stood down from the House of Commons at the
1992 general election and abandoned the Tories, in part because of his strong support for Scottish and Welsh devolution. He joined the Liberal Democrats that same year, and after working as a broadcaster and public relations consultant in New York and for Welsh TV channel
HTV moved to Scotland. In the
1999 Scottish Parliament election Raffan was elected as a regional list MSP to represent
Mid Scotland and Fife. He was one of three Liberal Democrat MSPs – along with
Donald Gorrie and
John Farquhar Munro – who opposed the coalition with the
Labour Party in the
Scottish Parliament, and was alone among his Liberal Democrat colleagues in not backing
Donald Dewar for
First Minister (he abstained from the vote). Noted for his flamboyant and theatrical manner when participating in debate, early in the parliament's first term he gained notoriety for tabling 38 written questions in one day. Raffan was re-elected at the
2003 Scottish Parliament election, and became a Vice Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. However, in December 2004 he was subject to wide criticism for claiming abnormally large expense costs from the Scottish Parliament, including travel in his Fife constituency at times when he was known to be in Parliament in
Edinburgh. The following month he resigned as an MSP, citing ill-health (and not the controversy his expense claims had caused or the accusations of inappropriate sexual and bullying behaviour towards his staff) as the reason. He faced further criticism after his resignation for working at
ITV Wales despite being "too sick to work". He was replaced in his seat by
Andrew Arbuckle, who had been next on the Liberal Democrat list for Mid Scotland and Fife in 2003. As of 2018, he was reportedly no longer a member of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. ==After politics==