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!

I would never usually use the term “dog whistle” but surely these symbols for Palestine are just that? My parents won’t have a clue what this scarf represents - it’s designed to align with a particular demographic with what increasingly appear to be “hyper liberal” extreme leftist views. I know that politics by its nature attracts fanatics but is there no one who is a normal moderate sort of person?!

ETA Im disturbed that between Farage and this hard left we are losing all common sense in the middle ground

I agree with this

There must be room for some normal person party between the extremists

She also had on the bloody watermelon necklace 🙈

FFS. Either you are lying through your teeth as to why posters are objecting, or you have substantial problems with reading comprehension.

This guy could be deported in mere months because there's no certainty that he'll get a new visa when his current one runs out.

That's the issue: that someone who might be thrown out of the UK is holding public office. It's utterly inappropriate that the Holyrood candidacy rules were changed to allow someone in his precarious visa position to stand for office in the first place.

Im disturbed that between Farage and this hard left we are losing all common sense in the middle ground

Totally agree.

Plus the fact that some people endless over embelish the signifigance of issues just to create the impression there is an issue.

Its like the hysterical headlines about demonstrations in London. Not to justify the purpose of either march, but by and large it was just a logistical exercise for the Met (along with football duties).

If anything, apart from the cost, it was an example of the UK being reasonably well run.

I am really worried that FWR is being dragged into this type politicking.

Overblown dog whistle mantras that seem to pop up on every thread!

Actually came back on this thread just post a point of information.

Have just had a YouGov survey about the recent elections. A lot of it just about how it was run, etc., etc..

But one quesiton was:

Do you think someone who is here on a temporary or student visa should be allowed to stand in elections. (Not exact wording)

They also had, randomly in the middle of all of this, a question about whether your gender aligned with your birth sex. At least they had the option you didnt want to answer.

Which elections?

I think most of us are aware of which the recent elections were!

Link to the yougov poll
Do you think people who are living in the UK on a temporary visa (e.g. student or work visa) should or should not be eligible to stand in public elections (e.g. for local councillor, MP)? | Daily Question

81% say no.

Ha! It seems it’s pretty clear cut

Seems he's a true omnicause hero. "Reparations to Palestine," say what now? Obviously has the best interests of Scotland at heart though, there is nothing else for us to spend our money on. And of course we all support Palestine, without question, October 7th notwithstanding.

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/scottish-green-msp-q-manivannan-37171249.amp

Seems this story was in the Telegraph a couple of days ago, sorry, I don't have a share token.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/17/trans-indian-msp-wants-scots-to-pay-palestine-reparations/

There were several...

Yes recenlty there were Council and Mayoral elections.

And Scottish and Welsh Government

Aye, so which ones were you talking about? Council elections or general elections in two countries? Because they are not equivalent.

Archive version. archive.ph/z2gy0

I wonder if this woman was treated differently because she a woman (old fashioned type) or because she hasn't claimed a trans identity or both🤔

https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/q-manivannan-visa-row-takes-37179730

Exactly what I was thinking...

That’s nuts! These people are so extreme. Even if we gave money to ex-colonised countries I don’t think it would help them. Many have dictators and the money would just be swallowed up. It’s a governance issue.

You used to be able to search on the Scottish Parliament website for MSPs by sex, male and female. Apparently this was changed to add a "non-binary" category. Now the filter has been removed altogether.

All since the election of the "trans" MSPs.

(The BBC says the filter was by "gender", obviously.)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgplz7xd59o

Interesting to see a Labour MSP, Carol Mochan, asking why.

Although they used sexed terms ie male and female they actually only recorded gender.
The snp government doesn't hold sex data on anyone they only give a gender options