 His main work in opposition was as a member of select committee on nationalised industries, where his knowledge and inquisitorial skills won him the respect of the committee's left-wing chair Ian Mikardo.In February 1972 he called for employment for miners who had been made redundant, and became Secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party's Northern Group in 1973.Dormand later described himself as "a republican for as long as I can remember having an interest in politics" and was a long-serving secretary of the all-party Parliamentary republican group.