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    Home Office urged to investigate new Green MSP in UK on student visa
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    Home Office urged to investigate new Green MSP in UK on student visa

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    30 Comments

    1. JustWhy1222 on

      This is one of these rare issues that should unify the entire electorate.

    2. ModdingmySkyrim on

      This MSP being elected is one of those “technically legal but very obviously morally wrong” things that people will tie themselves up in knots trying to defend because it’s their team doing it.

      And before anyone fires off with “but they won”, they were a list candidate. People had no idea the specific person they were voting for.

    3. CharacterMaybe7950 on

      Good grief. Americans worry about illegal migrants working and we have this.

    4. CyclingUpsideDown on

      Sigh.

      They’re allowed to stand for the Scottish Parliament. The rules were changed in a unanimous vote (meaning the change was backed by the Conservatives).

      They have also finished their PhD, which allows them to work full-time for an unlimited number of hours (within standard employment law) until that visa expires.

      They are perfectly entitled to apply for a graduate or Global Talent visa.

      Can we put this non-story to bed now?

    5. beIIe-and-sebastian on

      I mean they haven’t broken any rules until they exceed the 20 hours worked a week.

      Just follow Farage’s MP work schedule and they’d be well under hours.

    6. Rude_Sheepherder_714 on

      Yet another example of the system doing Reform’s work for them.

    7. idek_just_for_fun on

      Can we get an overall thread and tally of each parties fuck ups of MPs post the vote? Just want to see how poorly organised they all are.

    8. NoTitleChamp on

      People on temporary visas of any kind shouldn’t be able to stand for public office, ridiculous the change was backed.

    9. Lach0X on

      Foreigners being allowed to govern is a bit wild. If they aren’t a Scottish citizen they shouldn’t be making decisions for us.

    10. thebrowncanary on

      I don’t necessarily disagree with a naturalised citizen or even someone with indefinite leave to remain being allowed but this is just beyond silly.

      The bloke’s practically on holiday and has managed to bag a gig in a national parliament.

    11. HaveYuHeardAboutCunt on

      Urged by the conservatives, who voted to change the electoral law that allowed for Q to stand in the first place…

      Anyone getting outraged by this on the conservative’s behalf is being taken as a mug.

    12. ArcticAlmond on

      You should have to be a citizen to stand for election, or vote in one.

      I think we have an agreement with Ireland that allows them to vote in our elections if they live here, and for historical reasons, I say that’s fair enough, but that really is the only reasonable exception I can think of to this rule.

    14. Fatkante on

      I am as liberal as it can get , and I will never vote for right wing politicians . But I see shit like this and think this is what pushing people into reform trap ..

    16. Over-Willingness-933 on

      We should reform the voting laws in the UK. Only British citizens are allowed to vote and stand for election.

    17. WinHour4300 on

      I think we should reconsider allowing governments to change voting systems or candidate eligibility rules without a public referendum, ideally requiring more than a simple 50% majority. 

      Incumbent governments naturally have an incentive to change electoral rules in ways that may help preserve or extend their power, regardless of whether the public would actually support those particular rules changes.

      In many countries with formal constitutions, constitutional or electoral changes require a higher threshold of support than normal policy. 

    18. RandonEnglishMun on

      Yet Nigel farage can be given 5 million from a mysterious benefactor and be absolutely fine? Two tier justice yet again.

    20. RoystonHodge on

      Worth noting the scottish greens are very pro-indy, so you have a foreigner with no legal right soon to be here, gets elected for a party that wants to end the union.

      Imagine a brit being elected in spain to a basque party pushing leave spain. What would ordinary spainards think of such a thing

    21. dbxp on

      Yeah, that should defiantly be illegal

      Really anyone who is an elected official should have right to remain at the very least

    22. coffeewalnut08 on

      Clearly it must be legal to stand for the Parliament in Scotland… if he has been able to. So what’s the problem?

      How many more times are we going to run this non-story?

      We have literal oligarchs in Reform getting bribes from billionaires, and yet this MSP on a visa is who we’re worried about??

    23. ZBD-04A on

      So where’s the article about the Korean reform senedd mp who’s on a work visa?

    24. Additional-Spot-2579 on

      How the actual fuck is this legal? Surely there aren’t many (any?) other first world democracies which would allow this situation to even occur? 

    26. snowfalling777 on

      So what’s wrong here as they clearly don’t break any immigration rules or election rules? Isn’t it the core of democracy principle to represent the interests of residents who contribute to the society, including taxation, but have been historically disenfranchised? The only suspicious one is the Scottish Conservatives that tries to disenfranchise a large group of population again to gain election leverage and generate anti-immigration hysteria.

    27. Vivid_Employment8635 on

      I’ve no issue with people not originally from the UK being elected, and I’m aware that this is going to be beaten to death by a certain kind of person, but I do find it a bit weird to want to legislate for a country you’re not a citizen of. 

    28. InMyLiverpoolHome25 on

      He’s got a PhD from St Andrews in International Relations which makes him better qualified than about 90% of MPs

    29. Dangerous_Builder516 on

      This is a great argument against list systems for democracy.

      Who the fuck would have voted for this person if they were directly on the ballot?

    30. Astriania on

      The guy hasn’t done anything particularly wrong, but this does seem like the rules were changed to be too liberal. If you don’t have at least the permanent right to reside here it seems very odd that you can stand for public office and decide how the place is run – even at a regional or devolved level.

      As a little aside I’m not sure a non binary, queer, non-white immigrant on a temporary visa could be any more stereotypically Green.