Andy Wightman. Picture: Neil Hanna

The author of Who Owns Scotland and The Poor Had No Lawyers has spent more than 20 years researching land ownership and rights.

As a leading commentator on land issues and land reform spokesman for the Scottish Greens, he was selected to represent the party on the commission on local tax reform, tasked with finding a fairer alternative to the council tax.

His expertise was also sought by the UK Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee during its 2014-15 inquiry on land reform.

Sign up to our daily newsletter The i newsletter cut through the noise Sign up Thanks for signing up! Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting...

Placed second on the Lothians list for the Greens, behind Alison Johnstone, Mr Wightman has said he will press the Scottish Government to take more radical action on land issues.

He has criticised the SNP Government’s decision to maintain the “outdated, discredited and strikingly unfair” council tax, as well as the passing of a “watered-down” Land Reform Bill during the last parliament.

Mr Wightman, who lives in Edinburgh, studied forestry at Aberdeen University and worked as an environmental scientist before becoming self-employed in 1992.