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!

OK, he's not making any effort to look like a woman. If you see those poor deluded souls on reddit, they put a lot of work in, even though we can still tell by their gait, hands, faces, etc. He's not even bothering.

But all of that is kind of irrelevant bar the fact that if he weren't claiming transness, no party would have selected him as a candidate on competency and immigration status grounds. But he did so the Greens lapped it up.

As I said, bar a tenuous grasp of reality, show me a trans candidate with good experience and skills relevant to being an mp, say at council level, and they might well get my vote

I've even posted the wording of the condition on Commonwealth citizens

Qualifying Commonwealth citizenA person is a qualifying Commonwealth citizen if they do not require permission to enter or stay in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man or they do require permission to enter or stay in the UK but have been granted such permission, or are treated as having been granted such permission.Any type of permission to enter or stay is acceptable, whether indefinite, time limited or conditional

Well, yes - but now his political career is going to interfere with his studies. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

I suppose that he might be able to finish his PhD whilst working in parliament.

So...permission might be given, but he doesn't have it at the moment?

ETA Or is it the case that he's saved by the fact that he was previously given permission to enter the country?

The student visa is the permission to stay whilst it is valid.

Hmm, you can almost imagine a party very popular right now who will promise to change that on being elected.

Thanks.

Just acknowledging and apologising for the fact that I edited before you had a chance to post.

I failed the Tebbit test relatively recently, as I was so pissed off with Bazball and the state of English cricket that I found myself supporting Afghanistan! They've got a good side...

Thanks - no problem

If universities have students who breach their visas, they get penalised. To the extent of not geing able to take further overseas students and also staff if it happens often enough. Happened to London Met a while ago. If I were them i'd make him take a break in studies and get his visa stopped and chuck it all on the Scottish Parliament to sort out. Fun times.

After all his PhD isn't going to add much to the world.

OK, he's not making any effort to look like a woman. If you see those poor deluded souls on reddit, they put a lot of work in, even though we can still tell by their gait, hands, faces, etc. He's not even bothering.

Oh for christ's sake. Well, at least you've been honest enough to say it out loud now. Firstly this person doesn't even claim to be a woman so it's not clear why they should have to try and look like one. Secondly, what does a woman look like anyway? Please do explain how one should do one's hair, clothes and make-up to look sufficiently woman and I'll go and check in the mirror to make sure I'm conforming to your standards. And thirdly, as you've demonstrated here, even if they had dressed up in a more stereotypically feminine way, you would still criticise them for that as well, so the fact is there is literally no way for a trans person to win this game by the rules that you've set.

show me a trans candidate with good experience and skills relevant to being an mp, say at council level, and they might well get my vote

I think you've made it very obvious that this isn't true.

No, I have not. I've said I judge my candidates on ability. I do a lot of research before voting. My elections were local this time, and based on people's performance and my experience of them, I voted for two different parties.

The list is a tribal vote and that what he got it on.

I'm not conforming to feminine standards today but then I don't need to claim anything. This man did, to get a place in a candidate list.

Apologies but I haven't read the whole thread - I know being an MSP is not a run-of-the-mill job, but aren't employers obliged by law to check new employees have a right to work here? How is this any different?

I'd make ot illegal to stand for election, either council or government, if you don't have British citizenship. But then I'm turning into a dragon after all this shit we're putting up with now. I'm not the voice of reason these days.

One of my local councillors has got rid of my nightmare neighbour, massively helped with the hmo at the end of the road's rubbish issues, got us a new community police person and checks in on our street WhatsApp group several times a week. If he decided to call himself Mary I'd still vote for him every day of the week. Because he's great at his job.

the fact is there is literally no way for a trans person to win this game by the rules that you've set.

Nobody here has set any rules about transness. All @murasaki has done is point out how ridiculous the concept of trans is.

What do you think 'being trans' is? Do you think there is really any such thing? It's just a load of made up nonsense which seems to mean whatever the person claiming to be trans says it is.

Quite. Maybe I was trans when I was drinking beer and shouting at the football while wearing no make up, jeans and a jumper this afternoon. Who knows...

Or maybe I was just a cross woman on a Sunday afternoon.

A bit of a google of their academic history shows they seem to have been ID'ing as non-binary since at least 2023 (the earliest entry I can find) so if they've claimed the identity just to get on a candidate list, they've certainly been playing a long game.

I'm not conforming to feminine standards today but then I don't need to claim anything.

They don't need to claim anything either. Apart from the fact that they don't claim to be a woman, they don't actually owe you or anyone else a stereotypical performance of their identity, and nor should they have to. Regardless of your opinion on trans people, it's deeply hypocritical - and certainly not very gender critical - to hold them to different standards of performative femininity than you'd hold anyone else to.

Well if they're non binary they can't be trans as they don't believe in binary to cross from and to.

Also irrelevant, what are their qualifications for the job?

And not a long game just long enough to sort out their next visa. After they started their PhD. Which started in 2022. Full time PhDs are supposed to be 4 years which would make it due to complete in....ooh, September this year.

How terribly convenient.

Well, you're the only person on this thread who's been arguing that someone who claims to be a woman should look and dress a certain way, so by your standards maybe you were.

Well DP did cook dinner, so who knows these days.

Any thoughts on the timeline of his PhD, his sudden identity shift and his visa/funding end?

Where is the breach of visa law?
Immigrants apply for another visa before their current visa runs out. There is a set window where you cannot apply any earlier than x months before visa expiry but also no later than y months before visa expiry.

The student visa work limit of 20hrs/week only applies during term time. They can work full time during the holiday recesses, the longest of which is summer.

he was quite open about the fact he had no recourse to public funds so I did wonder whether he was actually entitled to work in the UK.

Most immigrants have no recourse to public funds until they attain indefinite leave to remain. That is standard for a work, student, or family visa. It means not eligible for income based benefits. It has nothing to do with right to work.

Doesn't apply to PhD students as a rule, as terms aren't considered in the same way as taught students.

So you think they knew at least 3 years ago that they'd be able to secure a slot as a Green party candidate this year and have a chance at getting elected? Despite the fact that 3 years ago, the Green's prospects for election looked extremely different than they do today? Doesn't that actually seem highly unlikely if you're entirely honest with yourself?

Seriously, if you don't think this person is qualified as a candidate or that their immigrant status means they shouldn't have been allowed to stand, fine, whatever. Reasonable opinion, reasonable grounds for criticism. So I don't understand why, on top of that, you have to make up extra reasons to criticise them which are obviously not actually true. All that smacks of is you being a person who sees someone trans and automatically assumes all the worst things you can about them.