Greens MSP John Finnie on retiring and when Scotland will become independent

As the SNP-to-Green MSP retires amidst continuing pro-Yes polling, he’s sure the biggest change is yet to come. “It’s a matter of when we gain independence, rather than if,” he says. “It would be good to have served in a parliament in an independent Scotland.

“I don’t want to be greedy. I want to give other people a chance. I promised Mrs Finnie I wouldn’t stand and I want to honour that commitment.”

Lochaber-born Finnie entered Holyrood on an SNP ticket in 2011 in the election that delivered the first majority government under the parliament’s complex voting system, with the SNP smashing expectations and beginning an era of parliamentary dominance that’s seen them retain control of the administration ever since.

But the member for the Highlands and Islands region sensationally quit that party by the following October in protest at its stance on Nato membership.

A four-year-spell as an independent followed before Finnie was re-elected as a Scottish Green in the 2016 contest – which saw his daughter Ruth Maguire win her place in the parliament as the SNP member for Cunninghame South while his new party celebrated their highest-ever vote share.

He announced his retirement in August 2019, three months before he’d make history as the politician who banned smacking in Scotland.

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The former police dog handler went from law enforcer to law-maker when his Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill became an Act in November that year, removing the “reasonable chastisement” defence that could until then be used by parents or caregivers to justify physical punishments.

It’s “very humbling”, he says, to have his name attached to that step, but he doesn’t want to take credit for it. Making his final speech last week he told his office staff he would be “forever in their debt” for this and other matters. “It was a big team effort,” Finnie tells the Sunday National. “It was part of a long campaign involving many, many folk. There was widespread support from the churches, social work and health professionals. It paved the way for the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law. That wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

“I’m proud of it. Simply, I’m proud of it,” he repeats. “It’s good to have felt you have made a difference.”

Finnie, a former dog handler for Lothian and Borders Police, believes the Parliament has “brought great progress to our country”, hailing recent moves like tougher domestic abuse laws, free provision of period products and the formalising of redress for survivors of historical child abuse in care.

There are those, he says, who have “sought to undermine our parliament and our institutions for their own shabby ends”. But he hopes it’s the achievements, not the “wrecking crew’s activities” that are remembered of the latest session – punctuated as it was by leaking and accusation around the investigation into the institution’s handling of harassment complaints against former First Minister Alex Salmond, under whom Finnie was first elected.

It was with fellow Highlands and Islands member Jean Urquhart that Finnie defected after that Nato vote, which overturned long-standing SNP policy. Angus Robertson and Angus MacNeil took a motion to the party’s October conference advocating a pro-Nato stance for an independent Scotland, providing that Scotland “will not host nuclear weapons”, but Finnie and Urquhart said that change was a betrayal of the manifesto they’d been elected on.

The pair had previously been together on a short-lived Highland Council coalition administration and remain close friends. Urquhart, who joined Rise, lost her seat in 2016 and has since turned to painting. Finnie’s wife Bernadette bought him one of her works for Christmas. It depicts a boat beside a Shetland boathouse. “Jean is the very best sort of friend,” Finnie says. “I can go many months and not speak with Jean, then she would come to Inverness and stay the night with us. That’s the sort of friendship and bond we have.”

However, he concedes that some relationships were damaged by their exit from the SNP, a decision announced at Eden Court theatre in Inverness after the SNP narrowly voted to abandon its long-standing opposition to Nato membership for an independent Scotland. “There were two or three people who were extremely angry,” he recalls.

“I get that people were hurt, people who felt they’d campaigned for me and with me. Time is a great healer.

“For those for whom the most important thing is Scottish independence, I hope they might come to think that having the broadest possible coalition of parties and people strengthens the cause for Scotland’s right to self-determination.”

That broad alliance is intensely personal for Finnie, given Maguire’s continuing SNP membership. She’s standing for re-election and is, Finnie says, “exactly the type of parliamentarian we want”. “I’m extremely proud of Ruth,” he goes on. “She is a highly principled, strong woman. Her core values are sound and hopefully her mother and I played a part in that. Our relationship couldn’t be stronger. That doesn’t change with my political circumstances.”

Something the 64-year-old does want to change, though, is the amount of time he’s able to spend on his grandchildren. “The big, big change for me will be on May 6 and the phone goes, because it won’t be work,” he says. “For all but the first three years of my police career, if the phone went it could be work. That will be different, that will be good – hopefully it’ll be a grandchild at the other end.

“Being an MSP is a real honour, but it’s a significant imposition on family. If politicians are honest, they’ll say their heads are cluttered with information. I want some clear space. I want to get out and tidy up the garden, I want to see my grandchildren. I said to Mrs Finnie I wouldn’t stand and I’m going to honour that commitment.”

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Finnie’s retirement follows “frenzied activity” at the Scottish Parliament as members raced to complete progress on hate crime legislation, the harassment inquiry and more – as well as coping with Covid. The leadership of the First Minister on that, Finnie says, has been “superb”. “It’s right that there’s been robust scrutiny but I certainly believe that the approach here, being led by medical evidence rather than perhaps focus groups, as perhaps is the case elsewhere, has been the right one.

“It’s shown people that, if we can deal with something like this, what else can we do? Certainly, we can deal with our own affairs.”

But independence, he emphasises, is “much, much bigger than individuals”.

“Despite the best efforts of unionists increasing, I have no doubt that the international right to self-determination will be exercised by the people of Scotland,” he smiles. “It’s about giving people the capacity to determine what they want.”