 Bollan, at one time a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and later the Labour group leader on Dumbarton District Council, was elected as an Independent for Renton and Alexandria South in the 1999 elections, defeating a Labour opponent.He went on to join the Scottish Socialist Party and was re-elected in 2003, defeating an SNP opponent.He has not been a prominent figure in the SSP at a national level, but he has been involved in the campaign against conditions in Cornton Vale women's prison, as his daughter was one of a number of women prisoners who have committed suicide there.