Alex Cole-Hamilton: Kate Forbes has chosen a different direction - perhaps it is time for Scotland to do the same
February 6 2020 must be one of the most dramatic days the Scottish Parliament has ever seen. On the day of the Scottish Budget, the SNP Finance Secretary tasked with delivering it was all over the front page of The Sun for sending creepy texts to a schoolboy.
Following Derek Mackay’s resignation, a then 29-year-old junior minister Kate Forbes stepped in to deliver the budget with just a few hours’ notice. Unsurprisingly, she became Finance Secretary days later and now holds the office of Deputy First Minister of Scotland.
Her considerable political standing at such a young age means that not many would have predicted her decision to step down as an MSP at the next Scottish Parliament election.
Kate has spoken about struggling to balance a young family with a four-hour commute to Edinburgh. I know that politics, like many other workplaces, can take a huge toll on family life. The choices that we make about how to manage the two are, ultimately, very personal.
However, it's important to look at what her departure says about Scottish politics as a whole.
For a start, Kate Forbes joins a long line of figures within the SNP announcing they will not be seeking re-election, the majority of them women. Interestingly, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who can be considered Forbes’ male counterpart both in terms of age and standing in the party, is doing the very opposite. In fact, he has been accused of putting pressure on older female colleagues in the Scottish Parliament to stand aside so that he can step in.
If we are to make Scottish politics more inclusive, then more will need to be done to make it compatible with a healthy family life. It's also on all of us to push back against the hateful abuse that causes too many talented women to pack their bags or skip politics in the first place.
On a broader political level, Kate’s decision further weakens the SNP, a party already struggling to justify its terrible record. I may disagree with Kate on many issues but it’s hard to argue that she isn’t one of the more respected SNP figures. No wonder one journalist noted, “the last reason for voting SNP has just walked out the door.”
After nearly 20 years, everyone can see the reality of an ailing SNP government. An NHS on its knees, the ferries fiasco, broken promises on schools and a sluggish economy, to name just a few.
It is the reality of those failures which gets me out of bed in the morning. Scotland needs a change not only in Kate Forbes’ seat of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, where my party are hard on the SNP's heels, but in every corner of Scotland.
That’s why you will see Liberal Democrats campaigning tirelessly on the issues that matter, whether it’s getting you fast access to a GP or an NHS dentist, fixing the crisis in care or cutting your energy bills.
The drama of Holyrood can be fascinating, but it should never detract from the realities facing our constituents; Kate’s departure has thrust them into the spotlight even more sharply.
Kate Forbes has chosen a different direction - perhaps it is time for Scotland to do the same.