He then served as the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Sheffield from 1984 to 1989, and returned to the Commons as MP for Bradford South from 1987 until his death in 1994.
As the society's first chairman, he helped to facilitate the shooting of the film The Railway Children on the line in the summer of 1970 and had a small part in it, as a guard.
He was elected the Labour Member of Parliament for Keighley from 1974 to 1983 and represented Bradford South from 1987 until his death in a road traffic accident on 12 April 1994 when he was 59.
At the start of the Queen's Speech debate on 21 November 1989 – the first time the House of Commons was televised – Cryer raised a point of order on the subject of access to the House, thereby denying the Conservative MP Ian Gow, who was to move the Loyal Address to the Speech from the Throne, the accolade of being the first MP (other than the Speaker, Bernard Weatherill) to speak in the Commons on television.
[2] Cryer died in a car accident on 12 April 1994 when the Rover he was driving to London overturned on the M1 motorway near Junction 5 at Watford.