Andy Wightman’s inspiring speech at SGP conf

Andy Wightman speaking at Scottish Green Party Conference 2010 from Scottish Greens on Vimeo.

Student protest comes to Holyrood

I spoke today to the demonstrators outside Holyrood who were protesting against the cuts to education and the Tory/Liberal coalition’s decision to treble tuition fees, which is bound to have a knock-on effect in Scotland.

It was a busy crowd, but you can just about see my wee baldy head behind a flag while I’m speaking!

The students who are protesting throughout the UK are doing something immensely important, and it goes way beyond the short term impact of the headlines. By turning education into a mere market commodity, the UK Government is causing immeasurable damage to our society which will be felt for generations to come. The anger being shown about this is entirely justified, and I hope that over the coming months it continues to be channelled into peaceful but forceful campaigning. I’m proud to support those who are leading that effort.

Video clip – debate on tax powers

Back in 1997 when the Scottish Parliament was finally being created, one of the key decisions was whether to include any taxation powers. In the referendum, around two thirds of the electorate voted to give Holyrood some limited tax power. That power has never been used yet, but there was always an expectation that it still existed in practice, not just in theory.

Now the current Government has been forced to admit to Parliament that the power can no longer be used, as the IT systems which operate it have not been kept up to date. Here’s my contribution to Holyrood’s debate about that admission:

Human rights discussion on Politics Now

Last night I was in the STV studio for Politics Now, where the debate was on human rights, and the court ruling that the UK Government must lift the blanket ban on prisoners voting.

Here’s the debate between myself and Bill Aitken of the Tories, with Bernard Ponsonby keeping order.

Video clip – yesterday’s FMQ on deepwater oil drilling

Debate clip – drugs strategy

Here’s my contribution to last week’s debate on the Government’s drugs strategy. I knew that I was going to be taking a very different line from the rest of the speakers, and unfortunately Richard Simpson has just finished his speech by welcoming the mood of consensus which had characterised the debate up to that point… which should explain my opening line…

Scottish Greens’ party election broadcast

Video – Newsnight Scotland interview

Here’s my interview from Monday’s Newsnight Scotland. Try as we might, the audio won’t stay in sync, so you’ll have to bear with it.

Oh, and don’t be worried by the logo in the background in the first few seconds – I haven’t jumped ship! This is a stange election, but not that strange!

Video – Green debate on the Living Wage

This morning we led two debates at Holyrood – this is the first, on the campaign for a Living Wage:

Video – Manifesto launch

On Tuesday this week we launched our manifesto for the 2010 UK election, which you can read on our lovely new website! Here’s the interview I gave to the BBC on the day: