[2] He became a member of the Ceylon Labour Party, following which he was elected Chairman of the Nawalapitiya Urban Council.
[6] The Free Education bill was ultimately passed when Senanayake was away in England negotiating for Independence.
At the first parliamentary election, held between 23 August 1947 and 20 September 1947, Jayatilake ran for parliament in the seat of Nawalapitiya, representing the Ceylon Labour Party.
[11] In December 1959 Jayatilaka was appointed the Minister of Transport and Works in the Dahanayake cabinet,[12] introducing the 'Podi Menike' express train, which ran between Hatton and Colombo.
He also declared open the Castlereigh Dam, which supplied water and hydro electric power to Nawalapitiya electoral district.
[18] His wife, Effie née Samarakkody, (the younger sister of Lanka Sama Samaja Party leader, Edmund Samarakkody,[19] and the former wife of Panini Ilangakoon), was elected as the Chairman of the Nawalapitiya Urban Council, the first female in the country to head an Urban Council.
[20][21] In 2012 the President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially opened the R. E. Jayatilaka Sports Complex at Nawalapitiya in his memory.