He was prominent in leading a number of campaigns throughout the Margaret Thatcher years, including against the poll tax and water privatisation.
After a short period as a labourer in the Ministry of Public Building and Works, and a year as a stoker in a Dunfermline hospital, he joined Rosyth Dockyard as a lagger in 1969.
[2] In the European Parliament, he supported the cause of striking miners against the Thatcher government and the cause of people who had contracted pleural plaque because of exposure to asbestos, having set a legal precedent when he took forward his own case.
[5] He also made himself a target for neo-fascist ire, after campaigning against a visit to Edinburgh by Jean-Marie Le Pen of the French National Front.
[3] Following the announcement of Falconer's death, tributes were made by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.