Forbes was viewed by many in the SNP as a future leader of the party.
10:14, 04 Aug 2025Updated 11:23, 04 Aug 2025
Kate Forbes
Kate Forbes has announced she will quit the Scottish Parliament next year instead of seeking re-election.
The MSP for Skye and Lochaber was appointed Deputy First Minister by John Swinney last year and was viewed by many in the SNP as a future leader of the party.
Forbes, 35, previously quit the Scottish Government Cabinet in 2023 following the election of Humza Yousaf as First Minister following a bitter leadership contest which saw her personal religious views become a major talking point.
But she returned to the front bench in May 2024 after Swinney succeeded Yousaf as party leader and First Minister following a disastrous year for the SNP.
Forbes has a young daughter with her husband Ali MacLennan as well as three step-daughters. In a letter to Swinney, saying she did not want to “miss any more of the precious early years of family life”.
The Deputy First Minister said: “It has been a great honour to serve Highland communities for almost a decade. I am grateful to every voter who re-elected me at the last election with the biggest majority in Scotland.
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“As I reflected over recess, I have concluded that I do not wish to seek re-election for another five year term in the Scottish Parliament.
“All politicians face a choice at every election to stay on the same path or not. Quite simply, I’ve decided on the latter. I remain wholly supportive of the First Minister just as when I backed him to be leader of the SNP and I look forward to campaigning for the SNP at the next election – to lead Scotland to independence.
“I was first elected in my mid-twenties, dedicating my most formative adult years to public service. In that time, I presented multiple Budgets, supported thousands of businesses and workers during Covid-19 and launched Scotland’s most ambitious business start up network TechScaler. I now wish to step back from my public duties and focus on new opportunities to serve people.
“I have grown up in the public eye, getting married, having a baby and raising a young family. I have consistently put the public’s needs ahead of my family’s during that time. I am grateful to them for accommodating the heavy demands of being a political figure. Looking ahead to the future, I do not want to miss any more of the precious early years of family life – which can never be rewound.
“I am very grateful to everybody I’ve worked with – in my constituency office, the party and Government. It’s not an easy environment and I will leave public office with the highest respect for the journalists who hold us accountable, MSPs across the chamber and hard working volunteers in every community.”
Kate Forbes narrowly lost to Humza Yousaf in the SNP leadership race in March but could lead a rebellion against him(Image: Getty Images)
Forbes was first promoted to a Cabinet position in February 2020 in dramatic circumstances after she was made Finance Secretary just hours before the Government was due to deliver its Budget.
She stepped in to replace Derek Mackay after his sudden resignation after he was caught up in a sexting scandal.
First elected as an MSP In 2016, Forbes was viewed early on as a political high-flyer.
But her campaign to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader in February 2023 quickly ran into trouble on account of her socially conservative personal views.
She came under fire for her views on gay marriage after she said she would have voted against it if she had been an MSP at the time.
And she was further criticised after suggesting having children outside of marriage was “wrong” according to her faith as a member of the Free Church of Scotland.
Her decision to launch a savage attack on Yousaf’s record in government during a live STV debate also caused anger in the SNP hierarchy.
It set the tone of a long and frequently stormy leadership contest which saw the party slide in the polls. Forbes ultimately narrowly lost the leadership race to Humza Yousaf in March 2023.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour deputy leader, said: “It is a great honour for us all to represent our constituents in Parliament, and I am sure that those living in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch will be grateful for her work during that time.
“Of course, as much as being an MSP is a privilege, it is also a demanding job which can make for a difficult balance between our working and personal lives. In that spirit, I wish Kate all the very best in her future endeavours and hope that she can enjoy spending time with her family.
“But it cannot have escaped the notice of voters that many of the SNP’s former rising stars are abandoning the stage, often to be replaced by defeated names of yesteryears and anonymous party apparatchiks.
“Kate Forbes was the future once – but now, like many of her counterparts in the SNP, she can see the writing on the wall. The truth is this is a tired government with no vision and no ideas.”
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