Andy Wightman MSP has resigned from the Scottish Greens as of today.
His letter of resignation, including his reasons for leaving, can be read here.
[Andy with golden eagle ‘Adam’, who later disappeared in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in Strathbraan (here). Photo by Ruth Tingay]
It’s reported in a number of papers (e.g. here) that he hasn’t ruled out standing as an independent, standing for another party, or indeed re-joining the Scottish Greens.
Andy has been a massive supporter of this blog right from the very early years and has been involved in addressing the issues highlighted on here in both a personal and professional capacity. I’m privileged to have worked with him on a number of platforms and look forward to finding new opportunities to continue.
UPDATE 28th February 2021: Andy Wightman to stand as Independent candidate for Highlands and Islands (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
I think he may have acheived more by not resigning bit what do I know Good luck to him whatever he does.
A massive loss to the Greens and anyone committed to the cause of ending raptor persecution.
The intolerance of other viewpoints is a scourge of life in the 21st ( and every other ) Century.
Please return to the fray Andy !
Keep up the pressure !
A sad day.
[Ed: comment deleted. Perdix, if you continue to troll this platform with offensive comment you’ll be banned. Final warning]
Not before time Ruth. You do not have to put up with this. Fairness has its limits.
How sad that someone who has so much energy to give in the Scottish parliament particularly to land issues and raptor persecution finds that his place is no longer tolerable for him to continue.
I hope we do not lose him altogether from our parliament.
A sad day for Scottish politics and those of us with a love of our raptors and countryside. A man with huge integrity, a rare thing in politics these days. One can only wish him well as an independent green.
Andy, in my estimation, has stood head and shoulders over most people in regards to sticking to his Principles, and attempting to inhibit him in this area could only have one ending. I was a supporter of the Greens, not a member, and if htis is how they deal with internal dissent I doubt that I will ever become one — to their great relief no doubt.
Greens, Conservationists and all others who try to do the right thing have lost a great advocate in Andy Wightman. I hope the damage can be repaired, but, if not, I trust he wil lremain both active and in the public eye.
An own goal which ends in losing a teams most effective player at this stage of play is all we need.
Here is some background to why Andy resigned. https://archive.is/MeRBW.
I think it’s safe to say the Greens are going to be facing annihilation in next May’s elections as a result. I will gladly contribute to Andy’s re-election and any future fundraiser he has on land reform.
You can find Andy’s contact details here: https://beta.parliament.scot/msps/current-and-previous-msps/andy-wightman
Please email him and offer your support. Scotland needs more like him.
sennen bottalack wrote onDecember 18, 2020 at 5:45 pm:-
“A massive loss to the Greens and anyone committed to the cause of ending raptor persecution.
The intolerance of other viewpoints is a scourge of life in the 21st ( and every other ) Century.
A massive loss to the Greens and anyone committed to the cause of ending raptor persecution.
The intolerance of other viewpoints is a scourge of life in the 21st ( and every other ) Century.”
I fully agree with all that. We do need Andy and those of similar minds because of the wildlife crime problems and land reform.
Good luck Andy and keep fighting the good fight.
I wish he hadn’t felt he had to resign but can understand him standing by his principles. Hopefully he’ll find a way to stay in parliament as he’s the only one I’d vote for directly.
A very sad day indeed. Andy’s abilities, commitment & tenacity regarding key biodiversity issues are legendary, and he has contributed so much to changes that, at long last, are emerging.
I have the privilege of knowing Andy for many years, back to his working forester days, including with Reforesting Scotland, when among other things, he organised the ground breaking Norway Study Tour in 1993 – which so vividly demonstrated how the Highlands could and should be managed…
Utterly Bonkers; this sort of toxic, phobic “right on ” nonsense is happening in the Labour Party as well; its an utter turn off to most voters. I can say that I was mates with Michael Jackson at the time of his heroics for “Gay Rights” supporting the miners on strike in South Wales in 1983/4; thats all immortalised in film “Pride” now and led to the NUM supporting equality on this issue in the late 1980’s at Labour Conference.
Spot on, this is absolutely killing the left and green politics. You just need to say the ‘wrong’ thing about one aspect of certain issues and you are marked, finished. As only a bog standard member of the SGP I can get off with occasionally pointing out more attention is being given to public toilet designation for the transgender than even discussing Female Genital Mutilation. You get ‘right on’ brownie points for debating one, and very serious demerits even mentioning the other – but what’s the priority in terms of ending human misery and injustice? What concerns genuinely conscientious people and what’s dominating the agenda of left wing/green organisations match up with less and less these days. I suspect many of us on the left are feeling rather homeless these days.
You need to be down here Les. I’ve felt disenfranchised by the whole system for 40 years.
Wish Andy would move down here, Caroline Lucas could do with a hand.
We need Andy in the chamber.
The Scottish Greens have just shot themselves in the foot:-(
After reading some of the responses to this, I thought for one moment I was on conservative twitter and not a raptor persecution blog. Apparently, human rights issues are ‘right on nonsense’ according to some people here. They’d have been in good company with people complaining about civil rights and universal suffrage.
Oh dear, overly simplifying and overly exaggerating. Please research the issue thoroughly before coming on here and casting aspersions on the motivations of those commenting,
I used direct quotes to back up my point, so your talk of ‘oversimplifying’ the issue is way off the mark. I don’t need to do anything before giving an opinion on this matter, though I’d strongly suggest you take your own advice first.
You quoted the phrase “right on nonsense” and claimed incorrectly that this was used in relation to human rights issues. Is that seriously the best you can do? Or is this just one of your triggers?
Trans rights are human rights issues, or are you trying to say they aren’t? Triggers? What an incredibly childish term to use.
Could you explain why you find the expression “right on nonsense” to be offensive to trans people? That would help. And could you address the issue of party machinery imposing a particular line on its members, despite their better judgement, which is why AW resigned? The way this is being represented by some is that he left the Green Party because he is transphobic. Which is obvious nonsense, be it right on or otherwise.
This discussion is straying way off topic – I’m closing it here.
My vote will go with Andy;
I think the Greens will lose a lot of support for losing their way.
The Greens are just a political party. Andy Wightman is a legend.
Exactly
I am afraid this is a sign of the times. It would seem that there is a kind of political class emerging in this country that believes it has some sort of monopoly over what is appropriate before any kind of debate has taken place. I have read some of the bizarre comments made by its acolytes in reaction to AW’s statement, accepting that he has done a lot of good work but condemning him for having disgraced himself now and accusing him of acting out of a desire to impress Tories and bigots. It really is time for radical and independent thinkers to stand up to cancel culture. It is even less intelligent than seventies Stalinism.
Andy deserves the support of every one of us whether he, or we, are in a political party or not. He is too valuable a guy, with phenomenal knowledge on land issues, to be lost to the political scene in Scotland.