Kate Forbes

Kate Elizabeth Forbes (born 6 April 1990) is a Scottish politician.

Born in Dingwall, Scotland, in 1990, Forbes was raised in India and Scotland and was educated at a Scottish Gaelic school, where she became fluent in the language.

She earned a BA degree in history at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and then an MSc in diaspora and migration history from the University of Edinburgh.

After completing her degree, Forbes worked for a short time in the Scottish Parliament as a researcher for SNP MSP Dave Thompson.

Kate Elizabeth Forbes was born in Dingwall in Ross and Cromarty, Scotland on 6 April 1990.

She is the eldest of four siblings: her mother is a teacher and her father is an accountant.

Her parents were missionaries for the evangelical Free Church of Scotland.

She spent her early years in the village of Marybank, where her parents ran a small business.

At an early age, 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.

Forbes' father later studied for a PhD in the Indian Stock Exchange and managed hospitals, relying on charitable donations because he made no income.

She returned to Scotland and was taught in a Scottish Gaelic school, where she became fluent in the language.

She returned to India when she was ten and studied at Woodstock School in the foothills of the Himalayas.

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.

Forbes attended Selwyn College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2011.

Forbes joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2011, having previously been active in the party's youth wing the Young Scots for Independence.

After graduating, Forbes worked in the Scottish Parliament in 2011 as a researcher for Dave Thompson, the SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

In February 2023, openDemocracy revealed her first, year-long job as a researcher was funded by Christian Action, Research and Education, which is known for its opposition to abortion and LGBT rights.

She then studied at the University of Edinburgh, where she gained a Master of Science in Diaspora and Migration History in 2013.

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.

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 the 2016 Scottish Parliament election.

Forbes was elected to the Scottish Parliament in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election and quickly rose within the SNP.

Nicola Sturgeon appointed Forbes as the Minister for Public Finance, Planning and Community Wealth, serving as the deputy to the Scottish Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay.

After Mackay resigned, Forbes was appointed Finance Secretary by Sturgeon.

Her tenure was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland, and its economic impact, and the cost of living crisis in the UK.

On announcement of Sturgeon's intention to resign as Leader of the SNP and First Minister of Scotland, Forbes announced her candidacy for leader in the 2023 SNP leadership election, but lost to Humza Yousaf, taking 47.9% of the vote to his 52.1% in the final ballot.

She subsequently left government to sit on the SNP backbenches.

Her leadership bid drew significant attention.

She has membership of the Free Church of Scotland, an evangelical Calvinist denomination with socially conservative positions, and holds religious views on sexual ethics, including disavowal of sexual intercourse before marriage, rejection of same-sex marriage, and opposition to most abortions.

Forbes later studied to qualify (qualifying after she was elected in 2016) as a chartered accountant and worked at Barclays for two years as a trainee graduate accountant.

She was elected in the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, doubling the majority from her predecessor from 4995 to 9045.

As a backbencher, Forbes was Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Gaelic.

She 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.

She also served as Parliamentary Liaison Officer for Finance and the Constitution.

In 2017, Forbes launched The Final Straw, a national campaign to ban the use of plastic straws in Scotland.

The campaign was supported by the Marine Conservation Society.

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.

Her campaign was successful after a ban of single-use plastic was introduced in August 2022.

In March 2018, she delivered an entire speech to the parliament in Gaelic during a plenary debate on the language.

She also served as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy from 2020 to 2023.