A transgender Indian immigrant has been elected a Green Party MSP. Q Manivannan, a non-binary PhD student, will earn £77,711 a year despite not having a permanent visa to live in the UK.
The self-described “queer Tamil immigrant” won the Edinburgh & Lothians East Holyrood seat on Friday (May 8) and reportedly told colleagues his victory would help buy him time to save up for a global talent visa which costs £5,047. The student was allowed to stand after the Scottish Government relaxed legislation to allow non-UK citizens to represent the nation.
Manivannan said after winning the seat: “My name is Dr Q Manivannan, I am a transgender Tamil immigrant, my pronouns are they/them. I am to some in this country everything that the hateful despise and I am standing here as your MSP now with care.
“They say politics is the art of the possible, a politics of care I would say expands what is possible for everyone left behind, pushed out or never invited in.”
The Scottish Greens candidate added: “Every barrier placed before me with the Greens was the reason also that we pushed further. This is what diversity looks like in power.”
Meanwhile, Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Shadow Chancellor and MP for Newark, said in a post on X: “Dr Manivannan may be a nice young person. But I don’t want to live in a country where people on student visas can become elected representatives to national parliaments. He’s crowdfunding from Green Party members for his graduate visa for pete’s sake.”
After standing on a student visa, Manivannan, who was born in the Tamil Nadu region of southern India, has now ramped up efforts to raise money for a graduate visa. After studying in Delhi, the MSP moved to Scotland in 2021 to pursue a PhD in international relations at the University of St Andrews.
Ahead of the elections, Sue Webber, Scottish Conservative candidate for the Lothians, said: “Voters will be astonished that this candidate doesn’t even know if they will be able to stay in the country going forward. Questions must be asked as to why they are standing for Holyrood with uncertainty hanging over them.”
A Scottish Greens spokesman said: “The Scottish Greens are proud of our record election result and to have Q elected to represent Edinburgh and Lothians East. The Scottish Parliament rightly and explicitly chose to permit everyone with the right to live here to stand in elections, including new Scots on visas.
“Q is on a valid visa with the right to work and live in Scotland, and is a Commonwealth citizen. The UK’s visa system is needlessly expensive and hostile, and we are determined to replace it with one that welcomes people with care rather than throwing up hurdles and barriers.”