FORMER Green MSP Andy Wightman has insisted he doesn’t miss frontline politics as he believes this session of the Scottish Parliament is not likely to be “that pleasant”.
“I miss some of it but there is a lot of it I don’t miss,” said Wightman.
“This parliament isn’t going to be that pleasant. I don’t mean it’s going to be nasty, but there are tough economic circumstances, post-Covid, post-Brexit, indyref, so there are a lot of tensions and difficulties lying in the background.
“It’s going to be tough for everyone.”
Wightman also said that he believes that while devolution has been a success, the country needs to build power and momentum outside Holyrood.
READ MORE: Life after Holyrood for Andy Wightman: Chopping up wood and drawing up laws
He cites a lack of “political literacy” and “an understanding, familiarity and a working, practical knowledge about how politics works and how power works”.
“The coming of the Scottish Parliament did bring the legislature closer to the people and it has been very positive – I would defy anyone who says it hasn’t been a great success. People have greater access and there is far greater transparency.
“But I don’t think people, broadly speaking, have risen to it.
“Even in full-time parliamentary affairs, people would often have a very poor understanding of how parliament really works. That worried me.”
Wightman, who resigned from the Scottish Greens in 2020 and then failed to win a seat as an independent in last May’s election, says that the continuing focus on the constitutional question is polarising Scottish politics.
“The binary nature of modern politics around the constitution means that sentiment that you’re looking for people to represent your interests has been substantially, if not completely, eclipsed by people’s position on the constitution.
“Parties are now that much stronger. It’s the constitutional question – it has polarised politics and until that has been resolved, there isn’t going to be much scope for people thinking freely about where their vote goes.”
READ MORE: Andy Wightman, Land Detective: Former MSP to launch regular National column
Wightman’s great passion, land reform, still excites him – but he fears there is a lack of political will currently to tackle the issue.
“The unfinished business for me is land reform,” says Wightman.
“I still don’t think we’ve properly got to grips with that.”
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