Kate Elizabeth Forbes (born 6 April 1990) is a Scottish politician who has served as deputy first minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic since May 2024.

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

This leadership bid drew significant attention due to her membership of the Free Church of Scotland, an evangelical Calvinist denomination with socially conservative positions,[2][3][4] and her religious views on sexual ethics, including disavowal of sexual intercourse before marriage, rejection of same-sex marriage, and opposition to most forms of abortion.

Following Yousaf's resignation in April 2024, Forbes was touted as a potential candidate to succeed him in the 2024 SNP leadership election but she ultimately chose not to stand and endorsed John Swinney.

[12] At an early age,[9] 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.

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

[19] 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.

[34] In May 2018, Forbes called on the government to let children practise religious belief in school without mockery, saying "I wanted to note that pupils should be allowed to explore, develop and understand the diversity of religious faith in Scotland, because if they can understand it in school you will hope that as they go through the rest of their life they will be tolerant of people who believe that things are different to them.

[40][41] In 2018, Forbes reiterated the SNP's commitment to 100 per cent broadband coverage throughout Scotland; the original 2021 completion target was later put back.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of England ordered a round of quantitative easing to keep UK borrowing affordable and interest rates low.

SNP policy is that during the early years of independence Scotland would use sterling without a formal currency union and so would not have a central bank that could perform quantitative easing.

"[55][56] When the issue was raised at a session of First Minister's Questions, Forbes' query was labelled "economically illiterate" by Labour MP Ian Murray.

[58] All 32 of Scotland's Council leaders wrote to the Scottish Government to complain about Forbes' £371 million cut in real terms to local authority funding.

[72][3][73] She 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.

[3][75] Forbes officially launched her candidacy for leader on 20 February, stating she could not "sit back and watch our nation [be] thwarted on the road to self-determination.".

[80] In a Twitter statement released on 23 February, Forbes expressed regret at the "hurt" her comments caused to her "friends, colleagues and fellow citizens".

[89] In her first interview since her leadership bid, Forbes told BBC Radio 4 the SNP needs to take decisive action amid the party's fraud inquiry by Police Scotland.

[91] Forbes quoted her leadership slogan of "continuity won't cut it" as she urged for integrity, trust and transparency for voters.

Co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie, used his parliamentary question time to address Swinney and his decision to appoint Forbes as Deputy First Minister.

[110] Speaking to Holyrood, Forbes dismissed such claims, using data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) which showed that "just over 4,000 more people have come to Scotland than have left".

[110] Following the landslide victory for the Labour Party at the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Forbes confirmed that she would be "pushing" the UK Government and new Prime Minister Keir Starmer on a separate foreign immigration policy for Scotland.

[111] In October 2024, Forbes announced that the Scottish Government would provide £10 million in investment to allow the creation for a new walking path between Moffat and Berwick-upon-Tweed.

[128] In the 2023 SNP leadership election, Forbes was the only one of the three candidates to share the official party position that the British monarchy should remain head of state in an independent Scotland, though she said that she found the issue to be of little importance.

[131] The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) stated it would "further austerity under the SNP Sustainable Growth Commission's plans", while Common Weal, a left-wing pro-independence think tank, described it as shifting the Scottish economy to the right.

[132][133] Forbes supported the proposed currency arrangement of 'sterlingisation', which would mean an independent Scotland would not benefit from the central bank quantitative easing, a monetary policy of massive borrowing programmes during times of economic crisis.

[134] As finance secretary, she stressed the need for more progressive taxation in order to tackle inequality and support economic growth.

[142][143] In 2018, 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.

[147] On 20 February 2023, 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.

"[152] In April 2019, Forbes was one of 15 SNP politicians who signed a public letter calling on the Scottish Government to delay its manifesto commitment to reform the Gender Recognition Act in Scotland.

[154] In the same month, Forbes signed off the proposed bill in a Scottish Cabinet meeting and when later asked why she did so despite her concerns she refused to answer.