Kate Forbes has confirmed her status as a candidate for the leadership of the Scottish National Party.
Hailing from Dingwall and raised partially in India, she was first selected as a potential MSP from an all-women shortlist in 2015.
Forbes was elected with close to 48 per cent of the vote in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, raising that to 56.1% in 2021.
She was behind the campaign to ban plastic straws in Scotland and as a backbencher was known for her advocacy on Gaelic issues.
In 2018 she was appointed as Minister for Public Finance, becoming the first woman to deliver a budget either at Holyrood or Westminster.
She was made finance secretary in 2020.
Read More: Kevin McKenna: The targeting of Kate Forbes shames the SNP and Scotland
Name: Kate Forbes
Age: 32
Constituency: Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch
When joined: 2016
Best known for: Giving an entire speech to the Scottish Parliament in Gaelic, first woman to deliver the Scottish budget
Ministerial posts held: Finance Secretary (2020-present), Minister for Public Finance (2018-2020)
Strengths: Forbes has been praised for her work as finance secretary, and her advocacy for the Gaelic language. She’s seen as more politically centrist than many of her peers, which could enable greater Holyrood co-operation on certain issues.
Weaknesses: Forbes will have to answer questions over whether her personal religious beliefs will affect the way she would govern. A member of the evangelical Free Church of Scotland she is anti-abortion and does not support gay marriage. Would such views affect her stance on things like buffer zones at abortion clinics?
What has she said about the leadership bid: “I can't sit back and watch our nation thwarted on the road to self determination. We need a leader who's bold, brave and energised, fresh faced and ready for new challenges.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel