Kate Forbes

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Kate Forbes
MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy, Kate Forbes, 2021.jpg
Official portrait, 2021
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy
Assumed office
20 May 2021
First MinisterNicola Sturgeon
Preceded byHerself (Finance)
Fiona Hyslop (Economy)
Cabinet Secretary for Finance
In office
17 February 2020 – 19 May 2021
First MinisterNicola Sturgeon
Preceded byDerek Mackay
Succeeded byHerself (Finance and the Economy)
Minister for Public Finance
Deputy Finance Secretary
In office
27 June 2018 – 17 February 2020
First MinisterNicola Sturgeon
Finance SecretaryDerek Mackay
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byBen Macpherson
Member of the Scottish Parliament
for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch
Assumed office
5 May 2016
Preceded byDave Thompson
Majority15,861 (36.8%)
Personal details
Born (1990-04-06) 6 April 1990 (age 31)
Dingwall, Scotland
NationalityScottish
Political partyScottish National Party
Spouse(s)
Alasdair MacLennan
​
(m. 2021)​
Alma materSelwyn College, Cambridge
University of Edinburgh
Websitekate-forbes.scot

Kate Elizabeth Forbes (born 6 April 1990) is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy since 2021, having previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance from 2020 to 2021. 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.[1] She earned a BA in history and then an MSc in Diaspora and Migration History at Selwyn College, Cambridge and University of Edinburgh, respectively.[1] Forbes worked for Dave Thompson, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, which would later become the constituency she represents, for two years. She then went on to study to become a chartered accountant and worked for Barclays.[2]

Forbes was elected to the Scottish Parliament in the 2016 election.[3] As an MSP, she was Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Gaelic.[4] In 2018, she was appointed a junior ministerial post in the Scottish Government as Minister for Public Finance.[5] Following the resignation of Derek MacKay, the Scottish Finance Secretary, Forbes was left to deliver the 2020 Scottish Budget, becoming the first woman to deliver the Budget.[6] After wide-spread recognition, she succeeded McKay as Finance Secretary, the first woman to hold the position.[7] In 2021, Forbes was re-elected and remained in her government role, but added economy onto her existing portfolio, holding responsibility for Scotland's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]

Early life[]

Early years and education[]

Kate Elizabeth Forbes was born on 6 April 1990 in Dingwall in Ross and Cromarty in northern Scotland. In Forbes' early years, she spent three years living in India, where her father was involved in providing healthcare to people who could not afford it.[1] She returned to Scotland and was taught in a Scottish Gaelic school.[9] 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.

Higher education and career[]

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.[1]

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.[2]

Member of the Scottish Parliament[]

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.[10] She was elected in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, doubling her votes from her predecessor from 4995 to 9045.[3][11][12]

Backbencher[]

Forbes speaking at 2018 SNP Conference

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.[4]She has spoken in favour of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status as a possible way to protect the language.[13] 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.[14]

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."[15]

Junior minister[]

On 27 June 2018, she was appointed to the Scottish Government as Minister for Public Finance and Digital Economy, as part of a wider reshuffle announced by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.[5][16] 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.

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.[6]

Finance Secretary[]

From left to right; Jenny Gilruth, Forbes, Nicola Surgeon and Fiona Hyslop, outside Bute House, 2020

On 17 February, Forbes was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Finance—the first woman to hold the post.[7] 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.

During the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary election, Forbes told business leaders she wanted a second independence referendum to be held once the "immediate impact" of the pandemic was over.[17]

On 6 May 2021, she was re-elected with a majority of 15,681 votes, 7,000 more than in the previous election.[8]

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.[18] 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?"[19][20] When the issue was raised at a session of First Minister's Question, Forbes' query was labelled "economically illiterate" by Labour MP Ian Murray.[21]

Personal life[]

Forbes is a member of the Free Church of Scotland.[22] On 25 January 2021, she publicly announced her engagement to Alasdair MacLennan.[23] They married on 29 July 2021 at church service in Dingwall.[24]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d "Political class". Edit magazine. University of Edinburgh. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b Nutt, Kathleen (17 February 2020). "PROFILE: Who is the new Finance Secretary Kate Forbes?". The National. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Election 2016: Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch". BBC News. 6 May 2016.
  4. ^ a b Webster, Catriona (29 March 2018). "SNP MSP delivers entire Holyrood speech in Gaelic". The Scotsman. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Who's who in Nicola Sturgeon's reshuffled government". BBC News. 28 June 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b Barr, Sabrina (6 February 2020). "Kate Forbes becomes first woman to deliver Scottish budget at 29 years old". The Independent. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b Carrell, Severin (17 February 2020). "Kate Forbes appointed Scotland's first female finance secretary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch - Scottish Parliament constituency". BBC News.
  9. ^ Freeman, Tom (28 May 2018). "Getting to know you: Kate Forbes". Holyrood. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  10. ^ Burns, Janice (22 February 2016). "SNP launches campaign to plug pay gap in rural areas". The National. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Current MSPs: Kate Forbes: Personal Information". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Katie Forbes gets SNP nod in bid to succeed Dave Thompson as MSP". The Inverness Courier. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  13. ^ King, Diane (20 July 2017). "Calls to boost Gaelic language with Unesco status". The Scotsman. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  14. ^ "What do we know about new finance secretary Kate Forbes?". STV News. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Christian Scottish politician says constituents are telling her stories of religious bullying - Premier Christian News | Headlines, Breaking News, Comment & Analysis". premierchristian.news.
  16. ^ Dixon, Andrew (6 February 2020). "Rising star of Scottish politics to take centre stage on budget day, but who is Dingwall-based MSP Kate Forbes?". RossShire Journal. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  17. ^ Glackin, Michael. "Glib soundbites now rule the day in our politics" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  18. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-44256059
  19. ^ @HolyroodDaily (23 December 2021). "Labour MSP Michael Marra asks about quantitative easing following comments this week by finance secretary Kate Forb…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/nicola-sturgeon-masters-art-of-quantitative-gibberish-xp9gq0txp
  21. ^ https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-criticised-over-independent-25773576
  22. ^ Editor, Kieran Andrews, Scottish Political. "Kate Forbes is named Scottish finance secretary" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  23. ^ Crichton, Torcuil (25 January 2021). "Kate Forbes announces engagement and tweets picture of sparkling diamond ring". Daily Record. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  24. ^ "Exclusive Pictures: Dingwall MSP Kate Forbes gets married in her hometown". RossShire Journal. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

External links[]

Scottish Parliament
Preceded by Member of the Scottish Parliament for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch
2016–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded byas Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work Cabinet Secretary for Finance
2020–present 		Incumbent
Retrieved from ""