The election of the Scottish Green Party's Q Manivannan to Scotland's parliament has sparked outrage, a sentiment that should not be controversial to express. Sworn in last week as an MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, Manivannan is the new figurehead of the Scottish crank Left. A self-described 'queer Tamil immigrant', the politician previously had a lacklustre 'career' as a performance poet before arriving at Holyrood to receive £77,000 a year.
Why Manivannan's Election Is Intolerable
Not because of the MSP's views: over 300,000 Scots voted Green on May 7, and democracy demands that even incoherent nonsense be heard in parliament. Nor should the politician's heritage be considered a bar to Holyrood. Among current MSPs, former Green co-leader Lorna Slater was born in Canada, while SNP rising star Simita Kumar was born in Fiji. Ms Kumar's years of public service in the NHS before politics tell a positive story about immigration and integration.
The reason Manivannan's election is a scandal has nothing to do with politics, birthplace, or identity. It is simply this: Q Manivannan is not a UK citizen. The politician is in Scotland on a student visa, due to expire at the end of this year. Raising this is not improper; it is necessary to right a wrong.
Legal but Controversial
Manivannan has broken no laws. MSPs voted last year by 111-0 to pass the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Act 2025, which extended the right to stand for election to those on temporary visas. That members now complain about the election tells us nothing good about the calibre of members in the last parliamentary session.
This is a matter of legitimacy. Are citizens to accept the involvement of a non-citizen in creating laws? Manivannan was born in India, a nation that requires candidates to hold citizenship. Were a UK citizen to seek election in Tamil Nadu, it would be forbidden, and the Scottish Greens would cry foul about colonial attitudes.
Visa Status and Talent
We now wait to see if Manivannan can secure a graduate visa for three more years or a global talent visa, though what this talent might be is unclear. The little of Manivannan's creative output available for scrutiny does not suggest poetic talent. In a 2018 obituary, the politician wrote: 'My name was an alphabet – Q. Not many people used it. I called myself 'they'. I had no gender, my identity was always formed in opposition.' This drivel improves if imagined recited by the late Rik Mayall.
In a recent performance, Manivannan read a poem about immigration saturated with cliches, from exhausted metaphors involving olive trees to red soil. The poet talked of 'bleeding roads' and suggested recreating pilgrimages by taking a cruise along the Amalfi Coast to freedom.
Defending the Indefensible
Green supporters want criticism to be seen as malign. Former pop star Pat Kane, a self-described public intellectual, wrote on X: 'I hope the usual suspects don't embarrass themselves. We should be proud that the Scottish Parliament is capacious enough for singular people like Q.' If Mr Kane and others stopped to think, they might see why over 80 per cent of Scots agree with former SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who said Manivannan's election 'beggars belief'.
The rules allowing such a situation are dangerous. How would Manivannan's acolytes feel if a party on the Right stood non-citizen candidates who had served in Viktor Orban's far-Right Hungarian government? How would Mr Kane feel about the capaciousness of Holyrood if Reform packed regional lists with non-citizen candidates ranked by crypto donations?
The law, as needlessly amended last year by idiots across the political spectrum, leaves a gaping hole in democratic security. While the hard Left defends Manivannan's presence, let us not hear another peep about foreign influence on domestic politics.
A National Embarrassment
If Manivannan remains, every criticism will be challenged as a dog whistle. If MSPs legislate to force a step down, the Greens will have a martyr who will be replaced by the next candidate on the regional list. It is a win-win for the cranks. During swearing-in, Manivannan spoke of Scotland as a 'bonnie home', but actions speak louder than words. The decision of someone on a student visa to seek election to our national parliament speaks of breathtaking arrogance. Every second Manivannan remains an MSP compounds a national embarrassment.
