Instead, Findlay was part of the Red Paper Collective along with other members of the Scottish Labour Left and the Communist Party of Britain, which aimed to promote a left-wing, socialist vision for voting No on 18 September 2014.

[1] Findlay was appointed Scottish Labour's Brexit spokesperson by new leader Richard Leonard on 19 November 2017, and then also as Parliamentary Business Manager on 4 October 2018.

[19][20] In early May 2019, Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray accused him of "bullying and harassment" in a complaint to Scottish Labour's General Secretary Brian Roy.

[21] On 28 May 2019, the day after it was confirmed Scottish Labour had finished fifth in Scotland in the European election and lost both its MEPs, Findlay resigned as Brexit spokesperson and Business Manager.

He was however critical of "eternal internal fighting within our party and the toxic culture of leaks and briefings that come from some within the Scottish and UK parliamentary groups".

[22] On 6 September 2019, a consultation launched by Findlay in the January reported there was overwhelming public support for his proposals for a bill to ban MSPs having second jobs, with some exceptions described as "common sense".

[24][25] In the October, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson announced she was accepting a public relations role for lobbying firm Tulchan Communications while retaining her job as an MSP and Findlay used her appointment as further justification for his bill, arguing the rules which allowed her to do so were "not fit for purpose".

"[29] He also described Leonard's critics in Labour's Scottish Parliament group in the Morning Star as "a kamikaze squad ... determined to destroy what remains of the party".