He unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary constituency of Stirling at the 1983 general election but finished 5,133 votes behind the future Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Forsyth.

Connarty was selected as the Labour candidate for Falkirk East at the 1992 general election following the retirement of the sitting MP, Harry Ewing.

He used his maiden speech on 13 May 1992 to raise concerns about the fragility of the petro-chemical industry at Grangemouth, the largest town in Falkirk East.

[4] In November 2008, he was one of 18 MPs who signed a Commons early day motion in support of forming a Team GB football team for the 2012 Olympic Games, contrary to the position held by the football governing bodies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who all had reservations that such a move would block them competing as individual nations in future tournaments.

He successfully acted as rapporteur for a report on recommendations on "Youth Access to Fundamental Rights" adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly in April 2013.

He was a member of a special Ad-hoc Sub Committee investigating "Governance and Corruption in Football" meeting with FIFA, UEFA and the ECA.