Andy Wightman

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).

Andy Wightman
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Lothian
In office 5 May 2016 – 4 May 2021
Personal details
Born	Dundee, Scotland
Political party	Independent (2020–present)
Other political affiliations	Scottish Greens (2009–2020)
Residence(s)	Lochaber, Highlands
Alma mater	University of Aberdeen
Occupation	MSP, writer, political activist
Website	www.andywightman.com

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 You've Been Trumped Too.^[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]

Wightman was one of a group of Scottish politicians (two MSPs, an MP and three MEPs) who instituted proceedings against HM Government to clarify, through a judgment of the European Court of Justice, whether the Article 50 notice that formally started the Brexit process could be revoked unilaterally by the United Kingdom.^[13][14] In December 2018, the ECJ handed down its Wightman judgment in which it held that the Brexit notification could indeed be revoked unilaterally.^[15][16]

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,^[17] 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".^[18][19][20] 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.^[21]

In August 2021, Wightman explained in his blog that he resigned from the Greens because he wanted "an environment that is more tolerant, questioning, critical, empathetic and more willing to listen".^[22][20]

Wightman later stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for the Highlands and Islands region in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.^[23]

In November 2022, Wightman announced that he would not support Scottish independence "until there is sustained support for it".^[24]

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)^[25][26]
• Scotland: Land and Power. An Agenda for Land Reform (Luath, 1999)
• The Poor Had No Lawyers (Birlinn Books, Third Edition, 2015)^[27]

References

1. Wightman, Andy (February 2012). "Forest Ownership in Scotland: A Scoping Study" (PDF). Forest Policy Group. p. 4. (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
2. "Author biography: Andy Wightman". Birlinn. from the original on 21 June 2020. 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. from the original on 4 June 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
4. "You've Been Trumped (2011) - IMDb". from the original on 18 December 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2016 – via www.imdb.com.
5. "Trump issues legal threat over new film". www.scotsman.com. 27 October 2016. from the original on 27 December 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
6. "Community bids for Applecross and Mount Stuart trusts". BBC News. BBC. 28 September 2012. from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
7. "Charles Kennedy criticises Applecross Trust decision". BBC News. BBC. 14 November 2012. from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
8. "Commission on Local Tax Reform" (Press release). Scottish Government. 20 February 2015. from the original on 21 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. from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
10. "Scottish Greens regional list candidates". Holyrood. 11 January 2016. from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
11. "Land reform expert Andy Wightman elected as Green MSP". Edinburgh Evening News. 6 May 2016. from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
12. "Scottish Greens announce portfolios of new Holyrood group". The Herald. Glasgow. 23 May 2016. from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
13. Dickie, Mure; Mance, Henry (21 September 2018). "Scottish court refers Article 50 ruling to ECJ". Financial Times. from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
14. Croft, Jane (20 November 2018). "UK government fails to block Brexit hearing at ECJ". Financial Times. from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
15. Cuyvers, Armin (2018). "Wightman, Brexit, and the sovereign right to remain". Common Market Law Review. 55 (5): 1303–1332. from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
16. Taylor, Robert Brett; Wilson, Adelyn L. M. "Brexit, the revocation of Article 50, and the path not taken: Wightman and Others for Judicial Review against the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union". Edinburgh Law Review. 22 (3): 417–422. from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
17. "Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Act 2021". from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
18. "Resignation from the Scottish Green Party". 18 December 2020. from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
19. Brooks, Libby; Carrell, Severin (18 December 2020). "Scottish Greens MSP resigns claiming 'intolerance' over women and trans rights". The Guardian. from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
20. "Why I Resigned from the Scottish Green Party". Land Matters …the blog and website of Andy Wightman. 7 August 2021. from the original on 22 August 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
21. Matchett, Conor (1 February 2021). "'Most people have no idea who he is' - Green co-leader dismisses impact of Andy Wightman resignation". The Scotsman. from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
22. Andrews, Kieran (8 August 2021). "Andy Wightman accuses Scottish Greens of bullying and intimidation on trans issues". The Times. from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
23. Paterson, Kirsteen (8 May 2021). "Andy Wightman misses Highlands & Islands seat - while Douglas Ross gets in". The National. from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
24. Nutt, Kathleen (27 November 2022). "Andy Wightman: I won't back Indyref until sustained support for new vote". The Herald. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
25. Who owns Scotland. Edinburgh : Canongate, 1996. WorldCat. OCLC 35137079.
26. Arlidge, John (25 February 1996). "Who owns Scotland?". The Independent. from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
27. The poor had no lawyers: who owns Scotland and (how they got it). Edinburgh : Birlinn, 2015. WorldCat. OCLC 923175798.

External links

• Scottish Parliament profiles of MSPs: Andy Wightman
• Land Matters Andy Wightman's blog
• Who Owns Scotland
• Wightman v Brexit Secretary case, European Court of Justice