1. Kate Forbes earned a BA degree in history at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and then an MSc in diaspora and migration history from the University of Edinburgh.
74 Facts About Kate Forbes
1. 2.
Kate Forbes was elected as an MSP in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election and quickly rose within the SNP.
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Kate Forbes's tenure was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland, and its economic impact, and the cost of living crisis in the UK.
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Kate Forbes subsequently left government to sit as a backbencher.
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Kate Elizabeth Forbes was born in Dingwall in Ross and Cromarty, Scotland on 6 April 1990.
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Kate Forbes is the eldest of four siblings: her mother is a teacher and her father is an accountant.
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Kate Forbes's parents were missionaries for the evangelical Free Church of Scotland.
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Kate Forbes spent her early years in the village of Marybank, where her parents ran a small business.
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At an early age, Kate Forbes moved to India for three years, where her father worked for various religious charities to provide healthcare to people who could not afford it.
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Kate Forbes returned to Scotland and was taught in a Scottish Gaelic school, where she became fluent in the language.
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Kate Forbes returned to India when she was ten and studied at Woodstock School in the foothills of the Himalayas.
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Kate Forbes returned to Scotland, this time in Glasgow, at the age of 15 where she attended a secondary school in the city before moving back to the Highlands to finish her schooling at Dingwall Academy.
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Kate Forbes attended Selwyn College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2011.
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Kate Forbes then studied at the University of Edinburgh, where she gained a Master of Science in Diaspora and Migration History in 2013.
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Kate Forbes joined the Scottish National Party in 2011, having previously been active in the party's youth wing the Young Scots for Independence.
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Kate Forbes later studied to qualify as a chartered accountant and worked at Barclays for two years as a trainee graduate accountant.
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Kate Forbes was part of an SNP campaign to address the gender pay gap around employment in the Highlands.
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Kate Forbes was elected in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, doubling the majority from her predecessor from 4995 to 9045.
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Kate Forbes served on the Scottish Parliament's Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee, the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, the Health and Sport Committee and the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee.
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Kate Forbes served as Parliamentary Liaison Officer for Finance and the Constitution.
21.
In 2017, Kate Forbes launched The Final Straw, a national campaign to ban the use of plastic straws in Scotland.
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Kate Forbes wrote to all of Scotland's 32 councils to support the campaign, with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar being the first Scottish council to pledge to go plastic straw-free.
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Kate Forbes's campaign was successful after a ban of single-use plastic was introduced in August 2022.
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Kate Forbes has spoken in favour of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status as a possible way to protect the language.
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Kate Forbes campaigned for local issues, such as increasing the number of foster carers in the Highlands, and raised concerns of a lack of teachers in specialist subjects in the Highlands.
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Kate Forbes was awarded "One to Watch" at the 2018 Scottish Politician of the Year awards, having been nominated the previous year.
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Kate Forbes supported the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work.
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In September 2018, The David Hume Institute reported that the government had made "no progress" on improving productivity in workplaces; Kate Forbes commented that "over the last decade, productivity in Scotland has grown at more than three times the rate it has across the UK as a whole".
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In 2018, Kate Forbes reiterated the SNP's commitment to 100 per cent broadband coverage throughout Scotland; the original 2021 completion target was later put back.
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Kate Forbes opposed the proposal to devolve business rates to Scottish councils.
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Kate Forbes was left to deliver the budget within hours of preparation.
32.
In July 2022, John Swinney took on responsibility for the Finance and Economy portfolio as Kate Forbes went on maternity leave.
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Kate Forbes is the first Cabinet Secretary in the Scottish Government to take maternity leave.
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Kate Forbes left the Scottish Government in March 2023 after Sturgeon resigned, and new First Minister Humza Yousaf offered her the role of Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands in his Government.
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Ahead of Christmas 2021 Kate Forbes delivered her budget in which she spoke of "very difficult choices" because of the "acute" problems posed by Covid.
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In December 2021, Kate Forbes introduced the 2022 Scottish budget, detailing the government's spending proposals amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Kate Forbes laid firm her commitment to keep income tax rates the same the budget increased the thresholds at which it is paid for low income earners.
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Kate Forbes announced the council tax freeze, which was imposed last year, would come to an end.
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Kate Forbes is a member of the Free Church of Scotland, an evangelical Calvinist denomination with socially conservative positions, such as opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
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Kate Forbes has previously stated she "[makes her] own decisions" on issues "according to [her] faith, not according to the diktat of any church".
41.
Kate Forbes pledged that she would "protect the rights of everybody in Scotland".
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Opponents to the Yousaf campaign called this move a demotion Kate Forbes emphasised any role in government was privilege to her.
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Kate Forbes turned down the offer and instead left government.
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Kate Forbes remained as an SNP backbencher, where she continued to represent her Highland constituency of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.
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Kate Forbes was announced as a new columnist for The National in April 2023.
46.
Kate Forbes described the events that followed Sturgeon's resignation as turmoil for the party.
47.
Kate Forbes quoted her leadership slogan of "continuity won't cut it" as she urged for integrity, trust and transparency for voters.
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Kate Forbes announced the following day that she was "seriously considering" running.
49.
On 2 May 2024, Kate Forbes announced she would not be a candidate for the SNP Leadership at this time, and backed John Swinney for the role.
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Swinney announced Kate Forbes would receive a significant role in his government if elected.
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Kate Forbes was additionally appointed by Swinney as Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, and was approved by Parliament on 9 May 2024.
52.
Kate Forbes advocated that "people choose to immigrate to Scotland for a whole host of reasons and it's very reductionist to assume people purely make decisions on income tax".
53.
Kate Forbes claimed in an interview that a separate foreign immigration policy for Scotland was "one of the big asks from the business community, and one of the big asks from the social care sector for a different immigration policy for Scotland", further adding that there was "far more positive rhetoric here in Scotland about immigration".
54.
Kate Forbes said that the creation of the project would boost tourism in the south of the country, particularly in the Scottish Borders, highlighting that the project was an "ambitious programme" which will "capitalise on assets which will allow opportunities to further grow, develop and showcase what the region has to offer".
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Scotland appointed its first space envoy in October 2024, and in November 2024, Kate Forbes highlighted the importance of the space industry in Scotland, stating that the sector is "strategically important to Scotland's economy and we have all the key elements to be internationally competitive".
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Kate Forbes has widely been described as socially and economically conservative, in contrast with the generally socially liberal policies of the SNP.
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Kate Forbes has called for a restart of the SNP's independence strategy.
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Kate Forbes has considered Sturgeon's proposal of using a parliamentary election as a de facto referendum to be a way to apply pressure on the UK government to grant permission to hold a formal referendum "rather than it being necessarily a referendum in and of itself".
59.
Kate Forbes said she wanted to achieve independence by delivering economic growth.
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At the first hustings, Kate Forbes said she would seek the "legal powers to hold a referendum" on independence within three months of the new UK general election.
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In 2018, Kate Forbes was a member of the Sustainable Growth Commission, a blueprint of the economic policy and currency for an independent Scotland.
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In March 2022, Kate 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.
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Kate Forbes stated the Scottish Government's proposed deposit return scheme would cause "economic carnage".
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In 2018, Kate Forbes made a pro-life statement at a prayer breakfast, saying that the treatment of the unborn is a "measure of true progress" one day after a Westminster debate on abortion.
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Kate Forbes stated that others have the choice to do so, as "In a free society you can do what you want".
66.
On 20 February 2023, Kate Forbes stated that if she had been an elected MSP in Holyrood when same-sex marriage was legalised in Scotland in 2014 she would have voted against the measure.
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Kate Forbes has stated that she believes that a trans woman is a "biological male who identifies as a woman".
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Kate Forbes said a "rapist cannot be a woman" and that Isla Bryson, a transgender woman who was convicted of raping of two women prior to her gender transition, is a "man".
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Kate Forbes did not participate in the final vote on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill in December 2022 due to being on maternity leave.
70.
Kate Forbes later stated that she would not have supported the bill.
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Kate Forbes has made speeches in Gaelic at the Scottish Parliament.
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Kate Forbes has been married to Alasdair "Ali" MacLennan since 29 July 2021.
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Kate Forbes has three step-daughters, MacLennan's children with his first wife, who died in October 2014.
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Kate Forbes is a Christian, and is a member of the Free Church of Scotland.