Holyrood 2021: Andy Wightman tests water on standing as independent

Former Scottish Green MSP Andy Wightman is running a Twitter poll, asking if he should stand as an independent candidate in May’s Scottish Parliament election.

Andy Wightman, formerly a Scottish Green MSP, is considering standing as an independent.

Mr Wightman, who quit the party led by Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater over its “censorious” nature when discussing the subject of women’s and transgender rights, has been urged by supporters to still run for election.

Yesterday he launched a poll on Twitter, which currently has 6,183 votes, with 75 per cent saying he should stand.

His tweet says: “With 100 days to go until the Scottish election, I am considering standing as an independent candidate in Lothian. What do you think? Should I go for it?”

The election of Mr Wightman on the Lothians list in 2016 was a result that, along with the election of Alison Johnstone, made the Scottish Greens the fourth biggest party in Holyrood, pushing the Liberal Democrats into fifth with just four MSPs.

The pair were elected after their party received 10.6 per cent of votes across the region.

The Lothians list has previously returned an independent MSP, after Margo MacDonald quit the SNP and was still returned through the proportional vote system in 2003, and again in 2007 and 2011.

Mr Wightman’s resignation followed an argument within the Scottish Greens MSP group over an amendment to the Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Bill, which sought to replace the word ‘gender’ with ‘sex’ regarding a sexual assault victim’s ability to choose who examines them.

He has said he will continue to support Green policies and is a member of the Global Green Movement.

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