Kate Forbes

Kate Elizabeth Forbes is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy since 2020. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency since 2016.

Born in Dingwall, Forbes was raised in India and Scotland and was educated at a Scottish Gaelic school, where she became fluent in Scottish Gaelic. She earned a BA in history and then an MSc in Diaspora and Migration History at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh, respectively. Forbes worked for Dave Thompson, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, which is the constituency she now represents, for two years. She then went on to study to become a chartered accountant and worked for Barclays.

Forbes was elected to the Scottish Parliament in the 2016 election. As an MSP, she was Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Gaelic. In 2018, she was appointed to a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government as Minister for Public Finance. Following the resignation of Derek Mackay, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy, Forbes was left to deliver the 2020 Scottish Budget, becoming the first woman to do so. After wide-spread recognition, she succeeded McKay as Finance Secretary, the first woman to hold the position. In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, Forbes was re-elected and remained in her government role, but economy was added to her existing portfolio, holding responsibility for Scotland's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early life

Forbes was born in Dingwall in Ross and Cromarty in northern Scotland. In her early years, she spent three years living in India, where her father was involved in providing healthcare to people who could not afford it. She returned to Scotland and was taught in a Scottish Gaelic school. At the age of ten, she returned to India and studied at Woodstock School. She returned to Glasgow, Scotland, at age of fifteen and finished her schooling at Dingwall Academy.

Forbes attended Selwyn College in the University of Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2011. She then studied at the University of Edinburgh, where she gained an Master of Science in Diaspora and Migration History in 2013. She worked for Dave Thompson, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, for two years. Forbes also worked as an accountant at Barclays for two years.

Political career

Election to Holyrood

In August 2015, Forbes was selected from an all-women shortlist by local SNP members as their candidate for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency held by Dave Thompson who would not be standing at the next election. She was part of an SNP campaign to address the gender pay gap around employment in the Highlands. She was elected in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, doubling her votes from her predecessor from 4995 to 9045.

Backbencher

As a backbencher, Forbes was Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Gaelic. In March 2018, she delivered an entire speech to the parliament in Gaelic during a plenary debate on the language. She has spoken in favour of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status as a possible way to protect the language. She campaigned for local issues, such as: increasing the number of foster carers in the Highlands and also launched a national campaign to ban the use of plastic straws in Scotland.

In May 2018, Forbes called on the government to let children practise religious belief in school without mockery, saying "I wanted to note that pupils should be allowed to explore, develop and understand the diversity of religious faith in Scotland because if they can understand it in school you will hope that as they go through the rest of their life they will be tolerant of people who believe that things are different to them."

Deputy Finance Secretary (2018–2020)

On 27 June 2018, she was appointed to the Scottish Government as Minister for Public Finance, as part of a wider reshuffle announced by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. She was the first woman to be appointed to the government, who was born in the same decade as the establishment of the Scottish Parliament.

2020 Scottish Budget

On 6 February 2020, she became the first woman to deliver the Scottish Budget upon Derek Mackay's resignation as Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work. Prior to this, no woman had delivered a Budget in either the Scottish Parliament or Westminster, although they have in the Welsh Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly, but those legislatures have fewer financial powers than Scotland's.

Cabinet Secretary for Finance (2020–present)

On 17 February 2020, Forbes was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Finance—the first woman to hold the post. Her response to MacKay's resignation was praised by opposition parties and the SNP, and is subject to speculation to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader, when she steps down in the future. In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, she was re-elected with a majority of 15,681 votes, 7,000 more than in the previous election. Sturgeon formed her third administration and re-appointed Forbes as Finance Secretary, with economy added to her portfolio, as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy.

In July 2022, John Swinney took on responsibility for the Finance and Economy portfolio as Forbes went on maternity leave. She is the first Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government to take paternal leave.

COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of England ordered a round of quantitative easing in order to keep UK borrowing affordable and interest rates low. SNP policy is that during the early years of independence Scotland would use sterling without a formal currency union and so would not have a central bank that could perform quantitative easing. In December 2021 Forbes responded to a query on this issue and posed the question, "Would it be such a great loss not to be able to conduct quantitative easing?" When the issue was raised at a session of First Minister's Questions, Forbes' query was labelled "economically illiterate" by Labour MP Ian Murray.

Ahead of Christmas 2021 Forbes delivered her budget in which she spoke of "very difficult choices" because of the "acute" problems posed by Covid. All 32 of Scotland's Council leaders wrote to the Scottish Government to complain about Forbes' £371 million cut in real terms to local authority funding. Cosla President Alison Evison said, "Many in the meeting described this settlement for local government as the worst they had seen. Council leaders were clear last night that we could not sit back and simply accept this and there was a real strength of feeling that enough is enough."

2022 Scottish budget

In December 2021, Forbes introduced th
2022 Scottish budget
detailing the government's spending proposals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It also outlined the recent election win pledges made by the SNP and the policies of the SNP-Green agreement.

Forbes laid firm her commitment to keep income tax rates the same, however, the budget increased the thresholds at which it is paid for low income earners. For Scottish landfill tax, standard rates and lower rates are set to be increased, while land and buildings transaction tax rates will remain at the same level. Forbes announced the council tax freeze, which was imposed last year, would come to an end. This gives councils in Scotland the ability to set their own rates for the first time since the SNP came into power in 2007. The budget set out £1.95bn to begin the delivery of the Adult Disability Payment, with a total £4bn funding into social security. This includes £197m to double the Scottish Child Payment, from £10 to £20.

Economic policy

In March 2022 Forbes launched a report outlining Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation, which is her plan to improve Scotland's economy over the following 10 years.

Political views

Scottish nationalism

As a member of the SNP, Forbes is in favour of Scottish independence. During the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, Forbes told business leaders she wanted a second independence referendum to be held once the "immediate impact" of the pandemic was over.

Abortion

In 2018, Forbes made an anti-abortion statement at a prayer breakfast, claiming the treatment of the " unborn" is a "measure of true progress" one day after a Westminster debate on abortion.

Transgender Rights

In 2019, Forbes was one of 15 SNP politicians who signed a public letter calling on the Scottish Government to delay its manifesto commitment to reform the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland. In 2022, she told The Times that her position had not changed, that the Scottish Government should not rush to change the "definition of male and female" and claimed the Scottish Government "risked creating bad law". A member of the Scottish Cabinet, she has refused to say whether she would back the legislation.

Personal life

Forbes is a member of the Free Church of Scotland. According to Forbes, while she has never tried to hide her faith, she has been as guilty as anyone of tiptoeing around it.

Forbes is a fluent Gaelic speaker.

On 25 January 2021, she publicly announced her engagement to Alasdair MacLennan. They married on 29 July 2021 at a Free Church service in Dingwall. On 8 February 2022, she announced that she was pregnant with her first child and would be taking maternity leave in summer. Her daughter was born in August, in Inverness.

Notes

References

External links

*

profile
on SNP website

personal website
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Kate
Living people
People from Dingwall
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Female members of the Scottish Parliament
Members of the Scottish Cabinet
Finance ministers of Scotland
Scottish National Party MSPs
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2016–2021
Members of the Scottish Parliament 2021–2026
Scottish accountants
Female finance ministers
Free Church of Scotland people
Year of birth missing (living people)