SNP leadership hopeful sees support crumble over her Christian views
Kate Forbes has said she would not have voted in favour of landmark equalities legislation in 2014
Jane Barlow
SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes’ chances of taking over from Nicola Sturgeon have tumbled as critics take aim at her opposition to same sex marriage.
The 32-year-old Christian's admission that she would not have supported the equality measure in 2014 has prompted four party MSP’s to u-turn on their support.
“I don’t see how she can recover," a party insider told the Daily Record.
Finance secretary Forbes was tipped as a frontrunner in the race to succeed Sturgeon, but the evangelical Christian’s comments have put her on the backfoot.
Richard Lochhead, the Just Transition minister, voiced his opposition to Forbes, despite admitting to “welcoming” her candidacy at first.
He said: “I welcomed my colleague Kate Forbes’ decision to join the SNP leadership contest given her talents and felty it would give us a real contest: New ideas and a new approach that we desperately need.
“However, I agree we can’t gave a party leader who’d vote against same-sex marriage.”
Children and Young People Minister Clare Haughey was among the MSPs to revoke her support.
The race to take over from Nicola Sturgeon has taken another turn
Jane Barlow
She wrote: “I absolutely and completely support equal marriage. I am unequivocal on this issue. I cannot continue to support Kate’s leadership campaign.”
Another initial backer, Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin, tweeted: “We must be full throated in our support of equal marriage. No ifs or buts.
“I won’t be supporting Kate’s campaign on that basis. I wish her well - she’s extremely talented.
“But I have red lines, and this is one.”
Public Finance Minister Tom Arthur also pulled the plug on his support for Forbes.
He said: “Equal marriage is amongst our Parliament’s greatest achievements and one that I would have been proud to vote for had I been an MSP when it was passed.
Initial support for Kate Forbes has faltered
Andrew Milligan
“Consequently, I am unable to continue to support Kate’s campaign.”
The 32-year-old revealed in an interview yesterday that she would have voted against the landmark equalities bill “as a matter of conscience”.
She told The Scotsman: “I believe it should be a conscience vote because of its profound significance in all mainstream faiths.
“I think for me, Angela Merkel is the example I would follow, 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.
“But I would have respected and defended the democratic choice that was made.”