 After the 1959 general election, Dugdale took issue with those who claimed that a pledge of nationalisation had cost votes for the Labour Party.In late 1959 he was one of the first to call for a cricket boycott on South Africa until the policy of apartheid was ended.When he won a place in the ballot for Private Members' Bills in November 1960, he introduced a Bill to make the conditions of farm animals more humane, although it was unsuccessful.