Wings Over Scotland | The Hills Of Far Away

Anyone seeking to make a compelling argument for the proposition that Scotland’s politicians and lawmakers are simply too farcically incompetent to be trusted with running an independent country had a gift-wrapped Godsend delivered to them last week by the idiot student children of Edinburgh.

But we can’t really blame the colourfully-haired, keffiyeh-clad cretin kiddies of the capital for that, because it’s their elders and betters who opened the door.

The law that enabled a queer trans non-binary Indian poet (trans: layabout) with a PhD in “narrating anti-authoritarian resistance” to become a Holyrood MSP was passed unanimously in the Scottish Parliament in December 2024 and became law in 2025.

It did so despite numerous warnings, which were all ignored.

(India does not allow dual citizenship.)

All of those warnings have immediately come true in the case of Q Manivannan. Trina Budge of For Women Scotland did an exhaustive check of visa regulations, and found that there is essentially no route which Manivannan can take which will enable him to complete his Parliamentary term while residing in Scotland.

 – His student visa does not allow him to work more than 20 hours a week or to hire staff, which all MSPs have to do.

 – A graduate visa, which he does not yet have, would only allow him to remain in the country for a maximum of three years and cannot be extended.

 – He cannot apply for a Skilled Worker visa, as that expressly excludes MSPs.

 – That only leaves a Global Talent visa, which Manivannan appears to believe is the solution. However, GTVs are also not available to politicians.

But it’s even worse. It is all but certain that Manivannan is already working illegally. MSPs are regarded as engaged as soon as their result is declared, which was last Saturday, and there is zero chance his graduate visa had been granted by then.

(Indeed, there’s nothing to suggest the application has even been filed yet, and it seems very unlikely that it has.)

And by law, any application that is lodged late automatically fails.

Which also means that Manivannan’s student visa is no longer applicable (even if it still has some time to run), because by being in a full-time job he is clearly breaching its conditions, as noted by solicitor known to Wings readers, Ian Smart.

In law, Manivannan now has no legal right to be in the UK and must leave immediately or be deported. But as Smart notes, there’s a twist.

So we’re now in a situation where a current MSP is an illegal immigrant with no right to remain in the country, but he could nevertheless continue perfectly legally to make Scotland’s laws for the next five years by Zoom meeting.

And if one, then why not all?

Under the 2025 rules, every single MSP in Holyrood (except the Presiding Officer) could be a foreign national living overseas and conducting all their business remotely by laptop from 5,500 miles away.

Not one single MSP voted against those rules, despite having these exact problems carefully and patiently explained to them by experts beforehand. And that, readers, is just about the level of legislative competence that we’ve come to expect from the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament over the last decade.

It’s not a one-off. It’s the norm, from the Named Person act to the Gender Recognition Reform Act to just about any other piece of legislation drafted by the Parliament since Alex Salmond resigned.

Run a country? These people couldn’t be trusted with a chimps’ tea party.