Maggie Chapman (born 27 June 1979) is a Scottish politician and lecturer who is a Scottish Green

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for North East Scotland. She was co-convenor of the Scottish Greens from November 2013 to August 2019, serving with Patrick Harvie, and was the party's lead candidate for the 2019 European election. She was a

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

for the Leith Walk ward of The City of Edinburgh Council from 2007 to 2015 and represented the Scottish Greens on the Smith Commission for further devolution of powers to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

. Chapman was the Rector of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

, having been elected in 2014, and again in 2018. Her term ended on the 31 March 2021. She was the lead Green candidate for the North East region at the

2021 Scottish Parliament election The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021 under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. It was the sixth Scottish Parliament election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. 129 Member of the Scottish Parliament, ...

, and was elected as one of eight Green MSPs.

Early life and education

Chapman was born in 1979 in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Zimbabwe Rhodesia Zimbabwe Rhodesia (), alternatively known as Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, also informally known as Zimbabwe or Rhodesia, was a short-lived unrecognised sovereign state that existed from 1 June 1979 to 18 April 1980, though it lacked international recog ...

. Her family had moved from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1978 for her father to take up the post of director at the college of music. She grew up there, educated at a mixed-race school, with the country having achieved independence from the United Kingdom as the Republic of Zimbabwe whilst she was a baby. Her mother was a nurse who worked as a theatre sister and midwife. Chapman moved to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to study Zoology at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, graduating in 2001. She went on to complete a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Environmental Management at the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

in 2003, then returned to Edinburgh University to study for a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Geography. In 2015, she clarified that she had not completed her doctoral studies. As a student, she had been an activist for

Edinburgh University Students' Association Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) is the students' union at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. The Association's aim is the advancement of education of Edinburgh students by representing and supporting them, and by promoting t ...

Professional life

Chapman has worked in the west of Scotland in Environmental Management, and as a community carer throughout Edinburgh. Until June 2015 she was a lecturer in cultural geography,

environmental ethics In environmental philosophy, environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy "which reconstructs the essential types of argumentation that can be made for protecting natural entities and the sustainable use of natural resourc ...

and social justice at

Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

. She retains a role in teaching through her support for the Educational Institute of Scotland. In mid-2015 she took up a post at the Muslim Women's Resource Centre in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Political career

Chapman was first elected as a councillor for the Leith Walk ward in the 2007 City of Edinburgh Council election, becoming one of the three first Green councillors in Edinburgh. She was re-elected in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. Later that year she became the first ever convener of the council's Petitions Committee. During her time as a councillor, Chapman has advocated for causes that include: the living wage,

participatory budgeting Participatory budgeting (PB) is a type of citizen sourcing in which ordinary people decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget through a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making. These processes typically begin ...

, better private tenancy rights, and better support for non-profits. She has also organised and voted against the privatisation of council services and cuts to services. In June 2015, she announced she was standing down as a councillor, to concentrate on the Scottish Parliament election that was to be held in May 2016. She was selected as the party's lead candidate for the North East region. In November 2013, she was elected unopposed as the Scottish Greens' female co-convenor, succeeding Glasgow councillor Martha Wardrop, and was re-elected to the position in 2016. Chapman was the party's lead candidate in the

2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an un ...

for the Scotland constituency. She was not elected. Chapman is a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

, anti-cuts activist, peace activist and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. She has been active in a number of political campaigns, including the

Radical Independence Campaign The Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) is a grassroots organisation which advocates for Scotland to become a Scottish republicanism, republic, Scottish independence, independent of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2012 in the run-up to ...

. In September 2014, Chapman became a member of the Smith Commission into further devolution for the

. In 2015, Chapman was challenged as co-convenor by activist Zara Kitson in the party's internal elections. Kitson was second on the party list for

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in the

2016 Scottish Parliament election The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth Next Scottish Parliament election, election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It ...

and was nominated by former MSP Mark Ruskell and endorsed by MSP and former convenor Alison Johnstone. The election was notable as it was the first time an incumbent co-convenor faced a serious challenge, all to date had been re-elected as the sole nominees. She stood in the

as the party's lead candidate for the North East region but despite the Greens increasing their number of MSPs from two to six, Chapman was not elected. In 2019, she was once again selected as the party's lead candidate for the

European Parliament election Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Until 2019, 751 ...

for the Scotland constituency. She was not elected. At the 2019 Scottish Green leadership election, Chapman lost to Lorna Slater. In the

, Chapman lead the North East regional list for the Scottish Greens. Her successful election to Holyrood was announced on 8 May 2021, two days after the election. This made her the first Green MSP in the North East since Shiona Baird lost her seat in 2007. Upon being sworn in, Chapman repeated her affirmation in Shona. Chapman was criticised for comments she made during a discussion on gender recognition reform with broadcaster LBC. The MSP said she agreed with children as young as 8 being allowed to make their own decision about whether to legally change their gender.

Rector

In November 2014, she was elected as Rector of the University of Aberdeen after a vote by the student body of the University. She was installed as rector at a ceremony in March 2015, having intimated that she would be active in the role. Chapman ran for a second term in November 2017, but the election was annulled after allegations that her supporters had torn down posters belonging to rival candidates, which Chapman and her campaign team denied. A document released by the University indicated that the election committee disagreed with the initial decision to annul the results as Chapman had not been given a right of reply to the allegations but did not overturn it. In the end, the election was re-run in February 2018. Chapman won re-election, defeating Aberdeen law student Israr Khan by a margin of 1,248 votes to 891.

Controversies

Failure to declare financial interest

On 10 May 2023, Chapman was sanctioned after the standards committee found she had failed to declare a financial interest during an evidence session on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

Response to 2023 Hamas attack on Israel

In October 2023, Chapman tweeted that the Hamas attack on Israel, which killed 1,300 and took more hostage, was "decolonisation", not "terrorism". She deleted her post after facing criticism. The party's co-leader Lorna Slater said "she did not support the initial statement".

Comments on the UK Supreme Court

MSP Maggie Chapman speaks at Transgender rights protest

In April 2025, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's judgement in the case of '' For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers'', which stated that a woman is defined by biological sex under UK equality law, Chapman attended a transgender rights rally in Aberdeen where she was filmed condemning the ruling. Chapman denounced what she called "bigotry, prejudice and hatred coming from the Supreme Court". Chapman's comments were denounced by the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates () is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a const ...

, which described them as failing to "respect the rule of law", and constituting "an egregious breach of Ms Chapman's duties to uphold the continued independence of the judiciary". In a letter to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee - of which Chapman is deputy convener - Roddy Dunlop KC called her comments "outrageous" and said that they created a risk of danger to members of the Supreme Court, and called for an apology and for Chapman to consider her position. Chapman stood by her comments and refused to apologise, saying that institutions and laws reflect transphobia and prejudice in society. On 29 April, a motion in the Committee to remove Chapman as deputy convener was rejected by four votes to three after SNP MSPs sided with Chapman. Two Conservatives and one Labour member voted in favour of removing her.

Personal life

Her father, Neil Chapman, was a professional classical musician. She has a sister, Catherine. She plays the fiddle and enjoys exploring Scotland.

References

External links

*
Maggie Chapman's blog

Maggie Chapman's profile page
on the Scottish Green Party's official website
Recent posts by Maggie Chapman
on the Scottish Green Party's official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Maggie 1979 births Living people Academics of Edinburgh Napier University Alumni of Dominican Convent High School Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Stirling Scottish anti-war activists Councillors in Edinburgh Leaders of the Scottish Greens Politicians from Harare Rectors of the University of Aberdeen Rhodesian educators Rhodesian women Scottish Green councillors White Rhodesian people White Zimbabwean politicians Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom Green MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026 Female members of the Scottish Parliament Women councillors in Scotland