Three days before the Scottish Parliament election, Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman, the first candidate on the regional list for North East Scotland, spoke to The Jute Journal about the issues facing higher education in Scotland, housing, the drug crisis and the case for independence.
She has been an MSP for North East Scotland since 2021, the same regional seat she is running for this election.
We asked Maggie Chapman about higher education and what the government needs to do to tackle the current crisis in our education. The University of Dundee recently announced a further £20 million in cuts, after already losing around 20% of its staff.
Maggie, who studied at the University of Edinburgh as an international student, told us:
“International students are treated like cash cows, and I want that to stop.”
Speaking to the importance of well funded higher education as the Scottish Greens defend Scottish students right to free tuition fees, Maggie added:
“If higher education is fundamental to our society, and I believe it is… higher education is fundamental to dealing with the crises we face, whether that’s the crisis of the nature and climate emergencies or the crisis of rising global tensions and global divisions… then we need to fund it accordingly.”
Maggie was elected rector of the University of Dundee last year, giving her direct experience of university governance on the university court. The university’s current financial issues led Maggie to be vocal on the importance of funding higher education.
“Education is a fundamental public good, and therefore we should fund it accordingly.”
With the housing crisis pushing many Scots to live pay check to pay check, we asked Maggie how it can be tackled.
“Homes should be for living in, not for profiteering.”
The Scottish Greens through the Bute House Agreement played a significant role in shaping the Housing Act that passed last year bringing rent controls back to Scotland, roughly 40 years after they were abolished under Margaret Thatcher. The Scottish Greens in their manifesto also promised to bring the same rent controls to student accommodation, where prices often rise every year.
“There are more holiday homes right now, holiday homes and second homes than there are homeless children.”
The Scottish Greens believe that homes shouldn’t be used for investing but rather housing should be treated as a basic need. This leads to one of their policies being the introduction of a compulsory purchase and compulsory sales orders, allowing councils to force the sale of properties that are consistently left vacant.
“Housing [is] being used as an investment opportunity… we need to break that system because that system is breaking people.”
Maggie also drew a connection between the quality of housing and quality of life.
“If you’re living in a cold, damp, draughty, mould-infested house, you’re not going to be able to flourish, to thrive, to fulfil your potential.”
Another problem facing young people is the lack of jobs coming out of higher education, youth unemployment in Scotland is currently sitting around 10%. We asked Maggie about the difficulties that young people face going into the ‘real world’ with the lack of jobs, houses and the cost of living.
“It’s not that you walk out into a ‘real world’ that’s presented for you. You actually have a role in creating what it should be.”
The Scottish Greens have a proposal to introduce regional green skills hubs which would allow colleges, employers, universities and trade unions to discuss planning for future jobs. Maggie spoke about the importance of young people being involved in the decisions that shape their future.
“Students live in the real world. You are currently living through a cost of living crisis that is hitting you very hard.”
Maggie also pointed to the wealth inequality that we see in Scotland.
“Our economy is working for those who profit. It’s working for the mega rich. It’s working for the super elites.”
One of the other problems facing our city and Scotland, is the drug crisis. Dundee often has the highest drug death rates per capita in Western Europe, rivalled only by Glasgow.
In the Scottish Greens manifesto they mention introducing more safe consumption facilities like the Thistle in Glasgow, specifically naming Dundee as being a possible city for further expansion.
“We need to treat the drugs crisis in Scotland, in Dundee in particular… as a public health emergency, one that Scotland has been living with for far too long.”
Drug deaths in Scotland are still a prominent issue, suggesting that the current system is failing. Maggie spoke about the importance of not treating the drug crisis as a criminal issue.
“If we treat that as a health issue, not a criminal issue, we focus on harm reduction, safe consumption facilities, wider access to naloxone, because we know these reduce deaths and harm.”
“We need to focus on caring for people with addiction issues, not incarcerating them, not locking them up.”
Maggie also spoke about the Dundee Drugs Commission report from 2019 and noted that the recommendations still haven’t been followed through.
“We need to follow through on some of the recommendations that the Dundee Drugs Commission presented.”
The report called for rapid access to treatment, peer support and supervised consumption facilities.
Another issue dominating a lot of national news is the push for independence. We asked Maggie whether a pro-independence majority would mandate an independence referendum.
As the Scottish Greens are a pro-independence party, her answer was unsurprisingly yes, but Maggie suggested that the SNP hadn’t explored all options.
“The SNP have explored various options, but I’m not sure that they’ve explored all of them.”
She spoke further about the importance of equal treatment within the United Kingdom.
“We are told time and time again that the United Kingdom is a union of equals. We clearly are not equal if one partner has that hold, has that power over the others.”
She closed saying that the power to decide Scotland’s future should lie with the Scottish people.
“This is about who should have power over our lives to determine our own future, and I am absolutely convinced that that power should lie with the people of Scotland.”
Our last question to Maggie was about what Dundee can offer that most other cities in Scotland cannot.
“Dundee has such potential as a city of culture and innovation.”
“Dundee has such a phenomenal story to tell, you know, from being the city of industry, from being the city of journalism, of jute, of jam.”
She also spoke about the three Js of Dundee being Jute, Jam and Journalism. She also looked at the future of Dundee, pointing to its student population and younger demographic.
“Abertay’s expertise in the games industry and gaming, Dundee’s expertise in life sciences.”
Scotland goes to the polls in only a few days on Thursday the 7th of May. Whatever the result, the issues we raised in this interview, housing, cost of living, the crisis in higher education and the drug crisis, won’t be disappearing on Friday morning.
Young people are often the demographic least likely to vote and most likely to be ignored by those who win. Whoever you vote for, break the cycle and show up at the ballot box.