Trans Green Party candidate with no British visa elected to Holyrood

[IwantToRetire]

Q Manivannan, who identifies as non-binary, was elected as an MSP on the Edinburgh & Lothians East list for the pro-independence Scottish Greens.

It was reported earlier this week that the former PhD student has appealed to colleagues for £2,089 of funding for a temporary graduate visa.

This would give the anthropologist and poet a further three years to work and live in the UK, picking up the taxpayer-funded MSP salary of £77,711.

Manivannan is said to have told colleagues this would help buy time to save up the £5,047 cost of applying for a global talent visa, the UK immigration category for promising individuals in specific sectors.

The self-described “queer Tamil immigrant” was only able to stand in the election after SNP ministers loosened the rules over who could be a Holyrood candidate.

Full article https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/05/09/trans-green-party-candidate-migrant-elected-holyrood/
And at https://archive.is/LhZYy

Reform couldn't have dreamed for a better headline!

These reform fuckers and the insane greens. Parachuted in from outside Scotland with extreme and idiotic views

all part of the lunatic fringe

Are you thinking I'm a Reform voter? I would like the eminently sensible and dedicated Ash Regan, whose departure you were gloating over.

BTW we voted for Scottish Government candidates in Scotland, not for councils. You know that, right? Or maybe you don't.

Such a disappointment and such a contrast with her predecessor.

"I didn’t realise Greens had a ban on MSPs having second jobs - that’ll be amusing watch unfold"

Sorry, I made a mistake. There is now a rule in the Scottish parliament that MSPs cannot take a second job as an MP or elected member of any other body at the same time that they are MSPs. They can still get ordinary jobs on the side though.

Dropping like flies straight after appointment, and the infighting and point scoring can feel like Twitter in person. The impression is that the personal satisfaction of these spats and gangs and feedback from the circle is mostly what it's all about, not a lot of time or attention left for much else. There were some well intentioned and valuable people who went in during the last GE, but I've seen many of them sucked into all this and they're now basically playing paintball together via emails and meetings.

The quality of people getting into politics is one of the key issues in all of this mess. WHY are these positions so inviting to people who shouldn't be there? Why is the culture so very enabling of this behaviour rather than pushing them to the basic work skills and ethics that every average work place requires and demands? Why are the brightest and the best (and normal people) not being attracted to these roles and why aren't they being actively supported into them? How has this behaviour and culture become so ingrained and how do we stop it?

You’ve hit a very sharp nail on the head there @OpheliaWitchoftheWoods

The unbelievably poor quality of people getting into politics is a key issue of all British politics and for all political parties. Absolute chancers attracted to the attention, status, power, the money and the opportunity to impose their personal beliefs on everyone else. You will think this way. All very 1984.

Although there have always been those sorts, IMO, what we’re seeing now is a ripple effect and spillover from the law of unintended consequences thanks to Silicon Valley tech billionaires. They have cleverly designed a social media monster that has gone a long way to create a black hole of need and attention in all of us. Now, if you can’t become an influencer, go into politics.

Anyhow, Douglas Adams said it best, bless him.

“The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Trying to work out why this thread is on the feminism sex/gender board. Is everything about someone who is trans a feminist issue? I, stupidly thought feminism was about women and women's rights. It's a bloody muddle at the moment. Have seen some awful stuff on here where women lacking any understanding of feminism seem to think it's all about whacking trans identified people with a big stupid stick

I haven't read much of the thread, so you can try and put me right.

It’s more about the Green Party which is quite anti women’s rights. And the state of politics, which is a women’s issue at the moment because of the obfuscating around women’s right to say no.

Well, there are feminist issues surrounding males in positions of power and influence @highame and why women don’t stand for election or last if they do get elected. Having males who say they are women in power is what led to for women Scotland kicking off about boards of men who say they are women. So a man who says he is non binary is a necessary subject for analysis.

not least, where is he going to pee and do the female staff and politicians have the rights established in law to privacy safety and dignity ? (Yes they do)

Trying to work out if you intended your post to be I’m so smart, kind and inclusive, the right kind of feminist and you’re all a bit thick and knee jerk anti trans so prove to me your worth… Oh wait a minute, hmm, I have worked it out and yes you are.

Am feeling exceptionally grumpy today by the state of the world.

Oh do stop it. That accusation is out of the 5 years old playback of how to make a challenge

Ah right. Fairly sure he’d be able to get a PT post-doc position then which would qualify him for a GT visa. So it’s not really a story is it.

.........I'd start with reading the thread.

No interest in 'putting you right', I'm here to discuss what's on the thread. However you meant your comment, it is pure derailing.

Don't let not bothering to read the thread stop you having an opinion on the thread dear, you should stand as a Green at the next election, you've got all the necessary qualifications. 😂

Read the thread then.

See if you can figure out on your own why the anti-women, anti-women having their own single SEX spaces and sports, anti-women not including men their definition of the word ‘woman’ (I could go on) Greens and their non-binary (a ridiculous concept in itself) newly selected MSP are being discussed on the Feminism Sex/Gender board.

It's not just a disadvantage with id pol. It's a way to shift power to political parties to create spots for their loyalists, people who could never be elected. And they are then not responsible to an actual constituency of people in an individual area.

It's massively anti-democratic.

Apologies if this has already been posted, but Wings has done a good deep dive...

wingsoverscotland.com/the-hills-of-far-away/

Absolutely! Once "elected" a person becomes almost impossible to unseat - even though they have no mandate from voters or responsibility to a constituency. Selected from party faithful by a very small number of party members and then imposed on the electorate somewhat at random. The people in the constituency that Q represents may or may not have heard him speak and may know little about him. They had no choice about whether he represents them unlike FPTP. Whatever the flaws with that system, it is definitely better than PR. Thanks to the Scotgov experiment that is now very clear.

Thanks for sharing. That is utterly astonishing but par for the course for the incompetent fuckwits that keep being elected in Scotland. 🙈🙈

That’s an interesting read.

Well, I saw Q turning up for work at Holyrood yesterday. I wonder how many hours he's working this week...

Except it’s factually incorrect. A student visa enables someone to work full time once they have submitted their PhD. Which he has.

If he gets a post-doc position in three years that will qualify him for the GT visa. If he doesn’t he’ll have to resign and leave the UK/claim asylum.

He is here, and working as an MSP, quite legally. Even if it doesn’t suit some people’s narrative.

Do I think someone without ILR should be eligible for election - no. But the democratically elected Scottish Gov did.

FFS HE CAN LEGALLY WORK FULL TIME ON HIS STUDENT VISA.

U ok hun?

So this bit in the article is wrong?

– His student visa does not allow him to work more than 20 hours a week or to hire staff, which all MSPs have to do.