Vile online trolls will put women off politics warns SNP’s rising star
...and here’s just some of the abuse they receive
NEW Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has warned women will be put off politics by the ‘vitriol and aggression’ they will face.
She has enjoyed a meteoric rise since being elected an MSP in 2016, becoming Scotland’s youngest ever Cabinet Secretary last month.
But the 29-year-old fears other women will not want to follow in her footsteps into politics because of the abuse female politicians face – particularly online – and she has called on all parties to take a stand.
She said: ‘The hardest thing for women in politics is the vitriol on social media and elsean where. That’s not an attractive proposition for young women, if all they see is the comments on social media and the vitriol and the aggression.’
The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP added: ‘Why people think it’s necessary to comment on how I look, or how I walk or anything else, when it doesn’t change how I think or how I do my job, is anybody’s guess.’
She urged politicians of all parties to ‘lead by example’.
‘It’s important that you win arguments and you win debates by the strength of your argument and not your personal attacks or your offensive comments,’ Ms Forbes said, in interview with the Press Association. ‘You can’t complain about it if you don’t change the way you do politics yourself.’
Last year, Glasgow Tory MSP Annie Wells revealed that police had warned her against going out alone, after she received terrifying online threats.
Gail Ross, a Nationalist MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, will stand down next year – as will SNP Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell.
Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson is also set to leave Holyrood.
All three have faced abuse but all have also said that they want to spend more time with their young children.
Ms Forbes has questioned whether Holyrood really lives up to its boast of being a ‘family-friendly parliament’.
Although Holyrood does not sit late into the evening, like Westminster, it is still impossible for MSPs representing farflung constituencies to go home to their family on days when parliament does sit.
Ms Forbes said: ‘My constituency is apparently larger than the country of Jamaica.
‘It takes me four-and-a-half hours to get home every week.
‘There’s a lot of travel and a lot of irregular hours and clearly it makes it very difficult for women with kids. It’s not family-friendly for those who cannot get home on a daily basis. I think there’s more that we can do.’
Ms Forbes is now seen as a future First Minister – although she has laughed off the idea, insisting ‘there’s no vacancy’.
The MSP, who studied history at Cambridge and worked as an accountant for Barclays before entering parliament, was asked to deliver the Budget last month at only a few hours’ notice, following the resignation of Derek Mackay.
Mr Mackay stood down after it emerged he sent hundreds of messages to a 16-year-old boy, including calling him ‘cute’.
When asked about increasing talk that she is being tipped as a future First Minister, Ms Forbes said that she was not planning to take over the top job.
‘Absolutely not – I can assure you unequivocally that I am not making plans,’ Ms Forbes told the Press Association.
‘Being Secretary for Finance is the best job out there.
‘There are many other people with far more experience in Government, who I will watch and learn from at the moment.’
On who should be the next First Minister, Ms Forbes said: ‘That’s a good question but clearly there’s no vacancy.’
‘Personal attacks and offensive comments’ Top rate a ****** e - To SNP’s Joan McAlpine She needs a damn good slap in the kisser - To Tory Annie Wells I’d 100 per cent throat punch Joanna Cherry given half a chance - To the SNP MP ‘Absolutely not after First Minister’s job’ Sack the b **** - To Tory Rachael Hamilton You should be bayoneted - To Labour’s Kezia Dugdale