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!

Who’d have thought they’d turn out to be a massive charlatan..?

Well what a surprise. Another poseur!

How do they expect to get away with it.

Whilst I am sure there are some who have genuine issues about sex and gender and social imposed conformity, they aren't the one making the headlines.

It is always these fakes.

Lets hope it wont be that long before everyone says we just dont believe any of it.

What an insult to those who now have this man as their "representative" at Scotland's government.

Another instance of a member of a privileged class using professed luxury beliefs to climb the greasy pole.

Looks like they’ve maybe hoodwinked the greens too

The laddie cannot help where his parents sent him to school, but it is his choice to work for Essai and Discover and it is his choice to lie about his past.

Exactly

• the job offer is almost triple the minimum income and is community service oriented

Being an MSP is not employment. An MSP is an office holder not a worker.

Very stupid of him to lie as it was obviously going to come out.

.

I’m beginning to think the Scottish Greens are actually a Reform plant

I wonder how those who contributed to the visa crowdfunder are now feeling?

It's so stupid. Surely it would be close to impossible for a starving Indian to end up studying in the UK and especially to do PhD studies. It's hard for a working class student to do a PhD especially in a subject that's not going to lead to an obvious high earning job.

Yes, who was paying his fees and living expenses?

"A Green MSP has dismissed women’s concerns about single-sex spaces because men can also be victims of sexual assault."
https://www.thetimes.com/article/6a68c8e1-e6b7-4389-a4fd-f9396a985edf?shareToken=197730838260ded8e9a365ec2c11c217&ver=article

I saw this. And it’s us who are meant to be obsessed with toilets 🙈

It is totally outrageous that a newly elected MSP is starting off by asking that the law of the land be broken

Something needs to be done about the list system so that at the very least voters can really see what their vote will get them

And there he is sitting next to Nevens in her keffiyeh. FFS. Is the weird pink and green thing he is wearing some kind of statement as well? I can't keep up.

It is a job.

"A job is a regular activity or specific position in which a person engages to earn money. "

Discussing access to single-sex spaces, Manivannan told The Herald: “I have had constituents writing to me on all sides of the opinion, but also women, cis women, who have for a very long time said: ‘I am not in fact threatened by trans women in my toilets. I am threatened by men and the violence that I face from them’.

This is totally incoherent since trans women are men.

“There are men who are survivors of sexual assault [by men] including friends of mine. In that case, why don’t we ban men from men’s bathroom spaces?”

He's comparing banning men from spaces where they don't belong with banning them from ones where they do and pretending there is no difference between these actions. Does he not realise how ridiculous this makes him look?

"While MSPs work long hours—splitting their time between debating at Holyrood and managing constituency issues—the law treats the role as public service rather than standard employment. Because of this legal classification, serving as an MSP does not constitute "work" in the traditional sense, allowing individuals on certain temporary visas to hold the position".

He is not eligible for a skilled worker visa as MSPs and other elected officers are specifically excluded (2nd job listed in this table):

Skilled Worker visa: eligible occupations and codes - GOV.UK

Screenshot added - should be visible shortly.

He is eligible to apply for a graduate visa, but this would only be for up to 3 years and the term of office for MSPs is 5 years.

He could apply for a global talent visa (for the full 5 years), but he might be unsuccessful.

Just as an aside, I’m unsure as why he’s a they, and going on about his toilet needs: he’s a man, isn’t he?? I’m not understanding all this

Yes, he's a man, but he self IDs as having a special identity. It makes him special and gives everyone else the opportunity to fawn over him and bow to his special status. He says his pronouns are they/them, but really they're me/me/me.

The word used was "job" not employment.

It's a job.

I don't enploy the guys in my garden laying paving slabs. They are still doing a job for me.

Well that's your opinion.

See, this is what I thought, but why would a they/them have any (even spurious) requirement to be in the women’s toilets?

he looks like a man, why would there be an issue in the gents?

Even by current standards this is bamboozling