Patrick Harvie

Patrick Harvie was born on 18 March 1973 in Vale of Leven, Dunbartonshire. Harvie attended Dumbarton Academy from 1984 to 1991. He then studied at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he was briefly a member of the Labour party.[2]

Before being elected to the Scottish Parliament, Harvie worked within the Gay Men's Project at the sexual health organisation PHACE West, later PHACE Scotland and now part of the Terrence Higgins Trust. He was initially a youth worker and later as Development Worker for the Lanarkshire Health Board area. Although this work was principally concerned with HIV prevention, it also involved Harvie in equality campaigning. Harvie also had a spell as a civil servant, working with the Inland Revenue in Dumbarton.[3]

At a young age, Harvie became involved in politics, having first attended a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament demo with his mother, while still in a pram. When he was ten, he told his mother that one day he would become Prime Minister. During his years at university he was a member of the Labour Party.[1]

Harvie was active in the campaign to repeal Section 2A of the Local Government Act, more commonly known as Section 28. This campaign was successful, and he has stated that the experience prompted him to become more actively involved in politics, leading to his membership of the Scottish Green Party.[3]

Patrick Harvie MSP campaigning in Dennistoun, Glasgow

Harvie was elected as MSP for the Glasgow region at the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. He gained attention both for issues strongly associated with the Greens, such as campaigning against the extension to the M74 motorway in Glasgow, and for more 'mainstream' issues such as opposition to the Identity Cards Bill.

Quickly after becoming an MSP he caused some controversy by proposing civil partnership legislation in the Scottish Parliament. Though this legislation was ultimately handled at Westminster and covered the whole UK, the distinctive Scottish proposals helped to stimulate some public debate north of the border, both on the issue of same-sex relationships and on the process known as a Legislative Consent Motion by which the Scottish Parliament allows Westminster to legislate for the whole UK.

Harvie was a member of the Communities Committee of the Scottish Parliament throughout the 2nd Scottish Parliament and served as Scottish Greens Spokesperson for Justice and Communities from 2003 to 2005 and Spokesperson for Justice, Communities, Europe and Constitutional Affairs from 2005 to 2007.[4] Through his work on the Communities Committee, he worked on the Anti-social behaviour Bill, the Charities Bill and the Housing Bill, as well as on issues of homelessness, debt, the planning system and building standards.

In 2004 Harvie was given the 'One to Watch' award at the annual Scottish Politician of the Year event. In addition to the Communities portfolio, Harvie covered the Justice portfolio for the Greens, and has been active on a number of civil liberties issues. He has also been convener of the Cross Party Group (CPG) on Human Rights, and helped to establish a CPG on Sexual Health.

Following the Green Party's disappointing performance in the 2007 election, Harvie was returned with a reduced share of the vote. The tight parliamentary arithmetic and a constructive relationship with the Scottish National Party led to a Co-operation Agreement between the two parties. Under this, Harvie was elected to be convene the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee, an office he held until 2011.[5]

He became the male co-convenor of the Scottish Greens on 22 September 2008 after being the only person to stand for the position.[6] Re-elected in 2016, Harvie joined the Finance and Constitution Committee and became Scottish Greens Spokesperson for Finance, Economy, Fair Work and Equalities.[7][8]

Agreement at Bute House in 2021

In August 2021 after weeks of talks, he was at Bute House with his co-leader Lorna Slater and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to announce a power-sharing agreement that would see the Green party in government for the first time in the United Kingdom. There was no agreement on oil and gas exploration, but the government now argued that it had a stronger case for a national independence referendum. As part of the agreement the Green Party would have two ministers in government.[10]

Visiting the Seven Lochs project in Easterhouse, Glasgow, to announce a multi-year funding commitment for the Nature Restoration Fund, November 2021

On 30 August 2021, Harvie was appointed Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights.[11] He and Slater are the first Green Party politicians in both Scottish and UK political history to serve in government.

During his tenure, COP26 was held in his home city of Glasgow and Harvie used to occasion to raise the issue of Scottish independence with world leaders.[12] He also got into a dispute with Greenpeace, which had recently criticised Nicola Sturgeon. Sturgeon had asked the British Government whether the new Cambo oil field near Shetland should be "reassessed" in light of the climate crisis. However, Greenpeace said fence sitting was not good enough and urged the First Minister to "stop hiding behind Boris Johnson" and oppose the oilfield.[13] Harvie said the organisation did not understand Scottish politics and the SNP's attachment to the oil industry. "I do think that we are more actively plugged into the Scottish political agenda than Greenpeace," Harvie told journalists. "And I do think Greenpeace, understandably, look at issues such as Cambo in a UK context and don't see it in a Scottish Parliament context.”[14]

In April 2023, Harvie was the subject of criticism after Mandy Rhodes of Holyrood magazine claimed she felt bullied by him.

"I was applying the final touches to a magazine looking back at that term in Parliament and had asked each of the party leaders to reflect on what they felt had been achieved in the preceding months. We were sitting almost on deadline, waiting for Patrick Harvie’s piece to come in.

Eventually, it came through very late at night. Basically, it was a diatribe about how Holyrood magazine was part of a transphobic campaign and how much I was personally part of it."[15]

Harvie campaigning alongside Alison Johnstone and other Green Party members in 2014

As a member of the Scottish Greens, Harvie is a supporter of Scottish independence and voted 'Yes' in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. In the run up to the referendum, he was part of the Yes Scotland campaign and campaigned alongside Nicola Sturgeon.[16] While he campaigned in-favour, not as a 'nationalist', Harvie stated the cause for independence was "for a vision of Scotland as a peaceful country with social justice, equality and environmental protection at its core".[17]

Since the 2016 EU membership Referendum, for which Harvie and the Greens campaigned 'Remain', he has voiced his support for the Scottish Government's proposal for a second independence referendum.[18] In the 2021 Scottish election, the SNP and the Greens collectively won 72 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, with both parties pledging to hold a referendum before the end of 2023 if the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.[19]

As well as a supporter of Scottish independence, Harvie supports an independent Scottish republic. He has been highly critical of the British monarchy, calling for the monarch to be replaced with a "democratically accountable head of state", as well as describing the Royal Family an "outdated, discredited and totally undemocratic institution".[16]