Patrick Harvie | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights | |
| In office 31 August 2021 – 25 April 2024 | |
| First Minister | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Co-Leader of the Scottish Greens[a] | |
| In office 22 September 2008 – 29 August 2025 | |
| Alongside | |
| Preceded by | Robin Harper |
| Succeeded by | Ross Greer |
| Member of the Scottish Parliament forGlasgow (1 of 7 Regional MSPs) | |
| Assumed office 1 May 2003 | |
| Scottish Green portfolios | |
| 2016–2021 | Finance, Economy, Fair Work and Equalities |
| 2021 | Finance and the Constitution |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1973-03-18)18 March 1973 (age 52) Vale of Leven,Dunbartonshire, Scotland |
| Political party | Scottish Greens |
| Alma mater |
|
| Website | Official website |
Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who served asMinister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights from 2021 to 2024. He served as one of two co-leaders of theScottish Greens[a] from 2008 to 2025, and is one of the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as a government minister. Harvie has been aMember of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for theGlasgow region since2003.
Born in Dunbartonshire, Harvie attended theManchester Metropolitan University, where he was a member of theLabour Party. Harvie worked for a sexual health organisation, which led him into campaigning for equality. His experience of campaigning to repealSection 28 led him to join theScottish Green Party. Harvie was elected to theScottish Parliament in the2003 election, representing theGlasgow region.
In September 2008, Harvie was appointed as male co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, serving alongsideEleanor Scott,Martha Wardrop andMaggie Chapman. In 2019, following a constitutional change in the Green Party, he ran forco-leadership in the August election. He was elected alongsideLorna Slater. As Slater was not an MSP at the time,Alison Johnstone fulfilled her role within the Scottish Parliament, untilMay 2021. In August 2021, after entering apower-sharing agreement with the SNP, Harvie and Slater were both appointed to theScottish Government as junior ministers, becoming the first Green Party politicians in the UK to serve in government. He and Slater left government in 2024, whenHumza Yousaf terminated the Bute House agreement.
Patrick Harvie was born on 18 March 1973 inVale of Leven,Dunbartonshire. He grew up in a very political household, and was taken toCampaign for Nuclear Disarmament demonstrations as a child.[1] Harvie describes his teenage self as "Awkward, self-conscious, uncomfortable. I was always the small kid in class. Crap at sport.Speccy. Good marks."[1]
Harvie attendedDumbarton Academy from 1984 to 1991. He then studied atManchester Metropolitan University, where he was briefly a member of theLabour Party.[2]
Before being elected to the Scottish Parliament, Harvie worked within the Gay Men's Project at thesexual health organisationPHACE West, later PHACE Scotland and now part of theTerrence Higgins Trust. He was initially ayouth worker and later as Development Worker for theLanarkshire Health Board area. Although this work was principally concerned withHIV prevention, it also involved Harvie inequality campaigning. Harvie also had a spell as a civil servant, working with the Inland Revenue in Dumbarton.[3]
This new Scottish parliament felt like the doors were open. It felt like this new institution was doing something relevant to my community, that it was going to ultimately do the right thing and that it was doing it in an open and participative way.
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 theLabour Party.[4]
Harvie was active in the campaign to repealSection 2A of theLocal Government Act, more commonly known asSection 28.[1] 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 theScottish Green Party.[3]
Harvie was elected as MSP for theGlasgow region at the2003 Scottish Parliament election. He gained attention both for issues strongly associated with the Greens, such as campaigning against the extension to theM74 motorway in Glasgow and for more 'mainstream' issues such as opposition to theIdentity Cards Bill.[5][6] He also supported campaigners concerned about the health impacts of tasers.[7]
Quickly after becoming an MSP he caused some controversy by proposingcivil partnership legislation in theScottish Parliament.[8] Though this legislation was ultimately handled atWestminster 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 aLegislative Consent Motion by which theScottish Parliament allows Westminster to legislate for the whole UK. When civil partnerships were introduced, Harvie condemned councils who enabled staff not to conduct same-sex civil partnership ceremonies.[9]
Harvie was a member of the Communities Committee of the Scottish Parliament throughout the2nd 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.[10] Through his work on the Communities Committee, he worked on theAnti-social behaviour Bill, theCharities Bill and the Housing Bill, as well as on issues ofhomelessness,debt, theplanning system andbuilding standards.
In 2004 Harvie was given the 'One to Watch' award at the annualScottish 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 ofcivil 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.
He became the male co-convenor of the Scottish Greens on 22 September 2008 after being the only person to stand for the position, afterRobin Harper resigned.[11][12] He is the first openly bisexual leader of a political party in the United Kingdom.
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 theScottish National Party (SNP) 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.[13]
Despite working closer with the SNP, he remained opposed to the Scottish Government's infrastructure projects, including his longstanding opposition to the M74 motorway and their planning framework, claiming it represented only "more bridges, more airport expansion, and barely a thought for the major renewables projects that should be front and centre in a document like this".[14][15] However, he was also able to secure the Scottish Government's support for legislation to tackle LGBT and disability hate crime.[16][17]
In 2015, Harvie witnessed the first same-sex wedding in Scotland, alongsideNicola Sturgeon who officiated it.[18]
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Harvie is a supporter ofScottish independence and voted 'Yes' in the2014 Scottish independence referendum. In the run up to the referendum, he was part of theYes Scotland campaign and campaigned alongsideNicola Sturgeon.[19] 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".[20]
Re-elected in2016, Harvie joined the Finance and Constitution Committee and became Scottish Greens Spokesperson for Finance, Economy, Fair Work and Equalities.[21][22]
In 2017, Harvie supported the successful North Kelvin meadow campaign to take over an area of greenspace into community ownership, as part of a wider Green push for land reform.[23]
In the2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Harvie called for a 'Remain' vote. After the result, he said Scotland "must keep open every option for protecting ourselves from this threat"[24]
SinceBrexit, he has voiced his support for theScottish Government's proposal for a second independence referendum.[25] When rumours emerged thatNicola Sturgeon was considering 'shelving' another referendum, Harvie called on the Scottish Government to "keep its promise to pass an independence bill to protect Scotland from a hard Brexit."[26] He has argued that the 2014 independence campaign was wrong to advocate to keep the pound and publish an "encyclopaedic White Paper, as it contained too many things for people to dislike,"[1]
He also criticised Labour when led byJeremy Corbyn, calling it "feeble", but nonetheless called for "progressive forces to join together to take on the Tories".[27]
After changes to their constitution, Harvie was elected co-leader ofScottish Greens alongsideLorna Slater in a2019 co-leadership election.[28]
With Slater, Harvie led their party into the2021 Scottish Parliament election and won eight seats, the most Greens ever elected to the Scottish Parliament.[29]
In August 2021 after weeks of talks, he was atBute House with his co-leaderLorna Slater and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to announce apower-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 and pledged to hold an independence referendum before the end of 2023 if theCOVID-19 pandemic subsides.[30] As part of the agreement the Green Party would have two ministers in government.[31]
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On 30 August 2021, Harvie was appointedMinister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights.[32] He and Slater are the first Green Party politicians in both Scottish and UK political history to serve in government.
In April 2023, Harvie was the subject of criticism after Mandy Rhodes ofHolyrood magazine claimed she felt bullied by him.[33]
As part of the Scottish budget process in 2023, he attended emergency Cabinet meetings as part of efforts to finalize the Scottish budget and secure agreement between his party and the SNP.[34]
During his tenure,COP26 was held in his home city of Glasgow and Harvie used the occasion to raise the issue of Scottish independence with world leaders.[35] He also got into a dispute withGreenpeace, which had recently criticised Nicola Sturgeon. Sturgeon had asked the British Government whether the newCambo 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.[36] Harvie said the organisation did not understand Scottish politics andthe 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.”[37]
Harvie supported theGender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, which would have made it easier for people to change their legal gender in Scotland. He andLorna Slater proposed resigning from their ministerial posts in 2023 if the winner of the2023 Scottish National Party leadership election and next First Minister delayed or rewrote the legislation.[38]
In April 2024, Harvie commented on theCass Review, a review of gender identity services in England, led by retired paediatricianHilary Cass. Harvie told the BBC that he did not see the Cass Review as a valid scientific document as he had "seen far too many criticisms" of it.[39] After Harvie's statements, a Scottish Government spokesperson said that decisions such as those proposed in the Cass Review should be proposed by clinicians and not by politicians.[40]Ash Regan, an MSP who had defected from the SNP to theAlba Party, launched a motion of no confidence in Harvie's ministership for "siding with ideology over science".[41] After ending the Bute House Agreement, thereby removing the Greens from government, Humza Yousaf said that SNP MSPs had been "upset" by Harvie's comments, but that it had not "necessarily" been a factor in the termination.[42][43]
Harvie consulted on a 'New Deal for Tenants' in 2021, which would include rent controls, a right to have a pet and eviction protections.[44]
In October 2022, Harvie introduced theCost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022 to freeze rents and ban evictions in response to thecost of living crisis.[45] The emergency legislation was the first bill to be introduced by a Green minister in the UK. The next year, Harvie extended the legislation, but removed the rent freeze in favour of a rent cap.[46] His measures faced legal challenges by landlords who claimed that the measures breached theEuropean Convention on Human Rights.[47]
The measures were extended for a final time in September 2023, with Harvie promising the introduction of permanent rent controls.[48][49] In October 2023, Harvie began to consult on what these may look like.[50]
In November 2023 Harvie consulted on proposals to require homeowners and businesses to change how homes are heated.[51] He also confirmed that all homes will have to meet energy efficiency standards by 2033 and that all homes would need to replace gas boilers by 2045.[52] The former proposal was criticised as creating a "ten-year timebomb" by theScottish Conservatives.
In April 2025, Harvie announced that he wouldn't seek re-election as co-leader of the Scottish Greens in theupcoming 2025 leadership election but will seek re-election as an MSP for the Scottish Greens in the2026 Scottish Parliament election.[53]
As well as a supporter of Scottish independence, Harvie supports an independentScottish republic. He has been highly critical of theBritish monarchy, calling for the monarch to be replaced with a "democratically accountable head of state", as well as describing theRoyal Family an "outdated, discredited and totally undemocratic institution".[19]
Harvie isbisexual and in 2003 became the first openly bisexualMember of the Scottish Parliament.[54] He is an advocate ofopen source andfree software, and is aLinux user.[55] His use ofTwitter during an important political dinner drew much media comment.[56]
Harvie was formerly an Honorary Associate of theNational Secular Society,[57] Honorary Vice-President of theGay and Lesbian Humanist Association and a patron ofParents Enquiry Scotland. He was a board member of the formerGlasgay! Festival, and is a member ofGreenpeace,Friends of the Earth,Equality Network,Stonewall (UK),Amnesty International,Humanist Society Scotland,Campaign for Real Ale and theCampaign Against the Arms Trade. From 2003 until 2007, Harvie wrote a weekly column in the Scottish edition of theBig Issue.
Harvie was a candidate in the election forRector of the University of Glasgow in February 2008.[58]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Co-leader of theScottish Green Party 2019–present With:Lorna Slater | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Co-Convenor of theScottish Green Party 2008–2019 With:Eleanor Scott 2008–2011 Martha Wardrop 2011–2013 Maggie Chapman 2013–2019 | Constitution changed |
| Scottish Parliament | ||
| Preceded by | Regional MSP forGlasgow region 2003– With: 6 others | Incumbent |
