a Welsh Assembly team by 110 points to 75. In January 2007, The Scotsman reported that Harper was being considered for the next Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. Harper stated that he did not know of this story, but said "it would be an honour even to be considered". Following the 2007 elections to the Scottish Parliament, Harper was returned as a list MSP for the Lothians, this time one of only two Green Party members elected. After an agreement with the Scottish National Party, the party with the largest mandate from the election, the Green MSPs including Harper voted for Alex Salmond to become First Minister of Scotland but the Greens declined to enter a formal coalition with the Scottish National Party. As part of the deal, fellow Green MSP Patrick Harvie was nominated to head the Holyrood Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee. In 2009, Harper and Harvie voted to reject an SNP government budget. He did not seek re-election in 2011. After Parliament Dear Mr. Harper, Harper's autobiography written with journalist Fred Bridgland, was published in 2011. In September 2014, Harper became chairman of the Scottish Wildlife Trust. He remained in that role for three years. At the beginning of December 2013, Harper announced that he would "absolutely vote no" in the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, going on to say that he would be happy to help the Better Together campaign and that there was a "significant minority" of Greens who were opposed to independence. In August 2021, Harper criticised the deal that the Greens had struck with Nicola Sturgeon's government, claiming that his party had failed to take tougher action on North Sea oil, marine protection and taxation. In September 2022, he joined the board of Gordon Brown's unionist think tank, Our Scottish Future. Patronage Harper has been a patron of many organisations including LGBT Youth Scotland, an organisation dedicated to the inclusion and advancement of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people in Scotland. He was an Honorary Vice-President of English-Speaking Union Scotland. He served as Rector of the University of Edinburgh 2000–2003. Harper was an Honorary President of the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group. He was elected as Rector of the University of Aberdeen in 2005. He was President of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts 2008–2011. References External links Robin Harper – MSP for the Lothians website that