Forbes secures No.2… despite Greens’ bid to spoil the party
‘Opposed LGBT people’s equality’
THE Greens have failed to block Kate Forbes’s appointment as Deputy First Minister, after claiming she would take Scotland ‘back to the repressive values of the 1950s’.
The party’s co-leader Patrick Harvie was angered by John Swinney’s decision to hand the ex-finance secretary a top job in the wake of her admission last year that she would have voted against same-sex marriage.
Despite the Greens trying to veto her appointment, Ms Forbes’s new Cabinet role was approved at Holyrood when Lib Dem MSPs abstained in the vote. However, the issue exposed growing tensions between the Greens and the SNP following Humza Yousaf’s decision last month to scrap their power-sharing deal, a move that led to his resignation.
Ms Forbes, a member of the Free Church of Scotland, faced a backlash from within the SNP last year during her party’s leadership contest when she revealed her opinions on marriage and abortion.
At First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Mr Harvie raised concerns about ‘the second most powerful job being given to someone who has opposed LGBT people’s legal equality, expressed judgmental attitudes about abortion and the view that people raising families without marriage are doing something wrong.
‘Is this the Scottish Government’s vision for the future of Scotland – taking us back to the repressive values of the 1950s?’
Mr Swinney said it is not and that his government would be led from a ‘moderate left-of-centre position’ and pledged to be ‘the First Minister for everyone in Scotland’.
But Mr Harvie said: ‘I’m not sure the First Minister understands just how worried many LGBT people are in Scotland at the moment.’
MSPs yesterday backed Ms Forbes’s appointment as Deputy First Minister by 63 votes to 57, with three Lib Dem MSPs abstaining.
During yesterday’s debate, Green MSP Ross Greer said: ‘I’m being asked to vote for someone who thinks there is something wrong with me, not because of any views I hold but simply because of who I am.
‘We cannot support someone who does not believe everyone in Scotland is worthy of equal rights and that not only equal marriage is wrong but also children being born out of marriage, so we will oppose the appointment of Kate Forbes.’
He also highlighted that Mr Swinney had himself previously questioned whether someone who holds such views would be appropriate to become First Minister.
Mr Swinney said his government would ensure values of diversity are ‘protected and enhanced’.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, Ms Forbes said: ‘I am here to support the First Minister. Together we serve all communities in Scotland.
‘I have signed up to collective responsibility, so I stand by the government’s agenda to improve and progress the rights of all of Scotland’s communities.’