Member of Parliament
With a majority of 4,601, Carr won the by-election and declared in his victory speech that "If ever there was any doubt of the issue that was going to settle this by-election there is no doubt now. When the poll tax is finally put to rest in the grave, its epitaph will read 'Here lies the poll tax, killed in Ribble Valley'." When he took his seat on 12 March, Labour MP Dennis Skinner heckled "Don't take your coat off, you'll not be stopping!". It was reported at the end of April that the local Liberal Democrats had asked to rent a venue for Carr to hold his constituency surgeries for no more than six months, rather than the three years offered.
Admitting he was breaking with tradition, Carr made his maiden speech the day after taking his seat because there was a Labour-initiated debate on abolition of the Poll Tax. He reported some of the conversations he had had on the campaign trail, and then outlined the case for a local income tax. He used his professional knowledge to speak on teachers' pay, which was being reformed at the time he entered Parliament; in June 1991 he welcomed the appointment of an independent body to decide pay levels, explaining that morale in the profession was low because of previous government decisions.
Before arriving in Westminster to take his seat, Carr had made contact with Conservative MP Ken Hargreaves, who represented a neighbouring constituency and who was an organiser of the anti-abortion campaign in Parliament, to offer his help. In December 1991 he presented a petition from Roman Catholic churches in his constituency opposing the use of abortifacient drug RU486. He was called at Prime Minister's Questions on 4 February 1992, and asked about a constituent who was told to wait 14 months for a hip replacement but offered the chance to pay to have the operation done privately without delay.