As deputy leader and chairman of the planning and transport committee of West Yorkshire county council, Woolmer announced in July 1974 the beginning of a campaign for industrial and commercial development.

[4] In 1976 he called for Government support for electronics industries which were locating in West Yorkshire, after a Rank Radio factory made 200 workers redundant.

[1] By the late summer of 1976, Woolmer had been selected to follow Dr Alfred Broughton as Labour Party candidate for Batley and Morley.

[6] Broughton suffered prolonged ill health during the later stages of the Parliament but did not resign his seat; he died just as the 1979 general election campaign began.

[12] Leader of the Opposition Michael Foot promoted Woolmer to the front bench as junior spokesman on trade, prices and consumer protection from November 1981; it was noted that he was not a left-winger in Labour Party terms.

[14] In his front bench role, Woolmer pressed the Government not to allow British Airways (then in state ownership) to sell off profitable subsidiaries, which he believed to be a prelude to its privatisation.

[17] His loss from the House of Commons was described as "unexpected" by Gerald Kaufman, who particularly regretted it because Woolmer "had developed an impressive expertise in trade policy".