Andy Wightman

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Andy Wightman
AndyWightmanMSP.JPG
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for Lothian
In office
5 May 2016 – 4 May 2021
Personal details
BornDundee, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Political partyIndependent (2020–present)
Other political
affiliations		Scottish Green Party (2009–2020)
ResidenceLochaber, Highlands
Alma materUniversity of Aberdeen
OccupationMSP, writer, political activist
Websitewww.andywightman.com

Andrew Dearg Wightman is a Scottish Independent politician, who served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region from 2016 to 2021. He was elected as a member of the Scottish Greens, but resigned from the party in 2020 and served out the rest of his term as an independent. He is also a writer and researcher best known for his work on land ownership in Scotland. He is the author of Who Owns Scotland (1996) and The Poor Had No Lawyers (2015).

Background[]

Wightman was born in Dundee. He graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1985 with a degree in forestry.[1][2] He was a co-founder of Reforesting Scotland, an environmental charity dedicated to substantial reforestation and the promotion of a sustainable forest culture.[3]

He began his career as a scientist working on renewable energy at the University of Aberdeen and then as a Projects Officer with Central Scotland Countryside Trust. He was appointed as the first development officer of Reforesting Scotland in 1991. He became a self-employed writer and researcher in 1993. Over the next 20 years, he contributed to a wide range of debates on land use, land reform, the Crown estate, common good land, local democracy and fiscal reform. Author of a number of reports on these topics, he also served as a Specialist Adviser to the UK Parliament's Scottish Affairs Committee Inquiry on land reform 2014–2015.[citation needed]

He appeared in the documentary You've Been Trumped (2011), which dealt with Donald Trump's controversial golf course development at Balmedie, Aberdeenshire where he advised Michael Forbes on his land dispute with Trump,[4][unreliable source?] as well as the 2016 sequel .[5]

He was coordinator of the Land Action Scotland campaign. The campaign has the stated aim of supporting local residents through seeking to democratise companies that are run by a handful of people who are not living on the land involved.[6][7]

In February 2015, Wightman was announced as being a member of the Commission on Local Tax Reform.[8] This cross-party group was set up by the Scottish Government, tasked with examining alternatives to the Council Tax. The final report Just Change: A New Approach to Local Taxation was published on 14 December 2015.

Political career[]

Wightman became a member of the Scottish Greens in 2009.[9] In March 2015, the Scottish Greens balloted their members to select candidates for the 2016 election, and Wightman was placed second on their Lothian list.[10] He was elected as an MSP on 5 May 2016.[11] On 23 May he was announced as the Scottish Greens spokesperson on Communities (including Housing), Land Reform and Local Government.[12]

On 18 December 2020, Wightman announced his resignation from the Scottish Greens following a vote on an amendment to the Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Bill,[13] alleging that the party was intolerant to discussion of potential clashes between transgender and women's rights. He stated in his resignation letter that voting for the amendment (and against the party whip) would have resulted in "complaints and disciplinary action leading to possible suspension, deselection or expulsion".[14][15][16] The Scottish Greens' co-leader Lorna Slater later dismissed the impact of Wightman's resignation, saying in an interview to The Scotsman that although his departure had come as a "massive shock", it wasn't a big issue: "[Wightman] has very specific followers, but most people have no idea who he is." She also said that Wightman had not engaged with women's and LGBT groups within the Scottish Greens before his departure.[17]

Wightman later stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for the Highlands and Islands region in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.[18]

Published work[]

  • From Fraser Darling to Terry Wogan: A Perspective on Scotland's Forests, in Mollison, Denis (ed.) (1992), Wilderness with People: The Management of Wild Land, John Muir Trust, pp. 56 – 63
  • Scottish Woodlands in a Global Context, in Ashmole, Philip (ed.) (1994), Restoring Borders Woodland, Peeblesshire Environmental Concern, pp. 6 – 10
  • Who Owns Scotland (Canongate, 1996)[19][20]
  • Scotland: land and power. An agenda for land reform (Luath, 1999)
  • The Poor Had No Lawyers (Birlinn Books, Third Edition, 2015)[21]

References[]

  1. ^ Wightman, Andy (February 2012). "Forest Ownership in Scotland: A Scoping Study" (PDF). Forest Policy Group. p. 4. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Author biography: Andy Wightman". Birlinn. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  3. ^ Wightman, Andy (16 January 2011). "We can transform our countryside. Put forests in the hands of the people". The Observer. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  4. ^ "You've Been Trumped (2011) - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  5. ^ "Trump issues legal threat over new film". www.scotsman.com. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Community bids for Applecross and Mount Stuart trusts". BBC News. BBC. 28 September 2012.
  7. ^ "Charles Kennedy criticises Applecross Trust decision". BBC News. BBC. 14 November 2012.
  8. ^ "Commission on Local Tax Reform" (Press release). Scottish Government. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  9. ^ Sanderson, Daniel (5 May 2016). "Andy Wightman may be a new face for the Scottish Greens but he is no stranger to Holyrood". The Herald. glasgow. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Scottish Greens regional list candidates". Holyrood. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Land reform expert Andy Wightman elected as Green MSP". Edinburgh Evening News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  12. ^ "Scottish Greens announce portfolios of new Holyrood group". The Herald. Glasgow. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Act 2021".
  14. ^ "Resignation from the Scottish Green Party". 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  15. ^ Libby Brooks; Severin Carrell (18 December 2020). "Scottish Greens MSP resigns claiming 'intolerance' over women and trans rights". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  16. ^ "Why I Resigned from the Scottish Green Party". Land Matters …the blog and website of Andy Wightman. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  17. ^ "'Most people have no idea who he is' - Green co-leader dismisses impact of Andy Wightman resignation". The Scotsman. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Andy Wightman misses Highlands & Islands seat - while Douglas Ross gets in". The National. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  19. ^ Who owns Scotland. Edinburgh : Canongate, 1996. WorldCat. OCLC 35137079.
  20. ^ Arlidge, John (25 February 1996). "Who owns Scotland?". The Independent. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  21. ^ The poor had no lawyers: who owns Scotland and (how they got it). Edinburgh : Birlinn, 2015. WorldCat. OCLC 923175798.

External links[]

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