Who is Kate Forbes? The devout Christian in the SNP leadership race

© PA Wire

Kate Forbes is the favourite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish leader, but could her opposition to gay marriage derail her bid?

– Jane Barlow / PA Wire

Kate Forbes has lost out to rival candidate Humza Yousaf in the SNP leadership contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon. Results were announced at midday today (March 27) revealing that Mr Yousaf had won 52 per cent of the final vote against Ms Forbes’ 48 per cent.

The Scottish finance secretary, one of the three candidates to become Scotland’s first minister, has previously said it is highly unlikely she would ever stand again to become the SNP’s leader as she prepared to find out if she had been successful in today’s leadership contest.

SNP members cast their votes today for a trio of candidates – Ash Regan, Humza Yousaf, and Kate Forbes – and the ballot box closed at midday.

Ms Forbes last week told The Herald she feels this is “probably the one opportunity” for her to secure the role, although she said she would support the party whatever the outcome.

She initially risked destroying her leadership campaign on the day it was launched by saying she was against gay marriage. Ms Forbes made the declaration as she announced her candidacy to replace Nicola Sturgeon, and said she would have opposed the equal marriage law passed by members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) in 2014.

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Ms Forbes was not an MSP at the time the legislation passed through Holyrood.

“I would have voted, as a matter of conscience, along the lines of mainstream teaching in most major religions that marriage is between a man and a woman,” the devout Christian and member of the evangelical Free Church of Scotland told the Scotsman newspaper. “But I would have respected and defended the democratic choice that was made. It is legal right now and I am a servant of democracy, I am not a dictator.”

She added to Channel 4 News: “Marriage is between a man and a woman, that is what I practise, but I will not row back on rights that already exist in Scotland.”

Scotland’s deputy first minister, John Swinney, said he profoundly disagreed with the religious stance Ms Forbes has taken despite himself being “a man of deep Christian faith”. He said has been a “huge amount of interest and debate” about her comments, but said it is unhelpful that much of the contest so far has focused on this issue.

However, Mr Swinney added that it was for SNP members to decide if someone with those views would be an “appropriate individual” to be Scotland’s next first minister.

So is Kate Forbes? Here is all you need to know.

Personal life

Ms Forbes was born in Dingwall in the north of Scotland and spent her childhood in Glasgow and India. Her parents travelled to the latter as missionaries when she was a baby.

She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a BA in history in 2011, before graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a master’s degree in emigration and diaspora history.

She became a chartered accountant in 2013 after working for two years for her local MSP, Dave Thompson. Ms Forbes then worked for Barclays for two-and-a-half years.

She married her husband, Alasdair MacLennan, in 2021 and is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to her first child, Naomi, in August.

Of her staunch religious beliefs, she told the BBC’s Nick Robinson last year: “To be straight, I believe in the person of Jesus Christ. I believe that he died for me, he saved me, and that my calling is to serve and to love him and to serve and love my neighbours with all my heart and soul and mind and strength.”

Her rise through Parliament

Ms Forbes was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2016 as MSP for Skye, Lochaber, and Badenoch.

As a backbencher from 2016 to 2018, she served on the Scottish Parliament’s environment, climate change, and land reform committee; the standards, procedures, and public appointments committee; the health and sport committee; and the rural economy and connectivity committee.

Ms Forbes delivered the Scottish government’s budget in 2020 just hours after her predecessor Derek Mackay quit – the first woman to do so. She has served as Cabinet secretary for finance and the economy for three years.

The results of a poll carried out by Ipsos Scotland for Channel 4 News that was published in the Scotsman on March 9 found almost one in three respondents (32 per cent) thought Ms Forbes would be the best first minister of the three candidates. Meanwhile, 24 per cent chose Humza Yousaf and eight per cent were in favour of Ash Regan. Younger people tended to favour Mr Yousaf but over-55s leaned towards Ms Forbes.

Leadership competition

Aged only 32, Ms Forbes would have been the youngest ever SNP leader if she had won the leadership contest.

She annnounced her decision to enter the race with a tweet that said: “I am today launching my bid to become Scotland’s next first minister, with the vision, experience, and competence to inspire voters across Scotland.”

The current culture and external affairs secretary, Angus Robertson, was tipped as the early favourite to be the new Scottish leader. However, he ruled himself out of the race, saying that taking on the “huge commitment” wasn’t right for him and his family of two very young children.

Mr Yousaf was appointed to his role as health secretary in May 2021 and was the youngest MSP elected to the Scottish Parliament at the age of 26. Mr Yousaf is set to become the first ever person from a minority ethnic background to hold the post of Scotland’s First Minister.

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