SNP deputy leader Forbes will step down as MSP before election

DEPUTY First Minister and former SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes has announced that she is stepping down as an MSP next year.

- By David Walker

The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP, who is 35, was already selected to contest her seat at the 2026 Scottish Parliament Election but has taken the decision to pull out.

She has been tipped as a future leader of the party after she narrowly lost to Humza Yousaf in 2023 before his ill-fated reign in charge of the Scottish Government.

Honour

She struck a deal with John Swinney for him to stand as SNP leader in 2024, becoming Deputy First Minister in the process.

But now she has decided to quit frontline politics next year.