KATE Forbes has appeared to reject Joanna Cherry’s claim that the SNP “party machine” is backing her rival Humza Yousaf to take over as First Minister.
The Finance Secretary told The National she did not believe there were “any conspiracies or otherwise” working behind the scenes for the benefit of one candidate.
Instead, Forbes insisted the race was open, fair, and transparent – and said she would support whatever choice members made in their ballot.
It comes after Cherry, the Edinburgh South West MP who is backing Ash Regan in the SNP leadership battle, claimed it was “no secret that the party machine is behind Humza and not behind Kate and Ash”.
She told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: “The majority of parliamentarians who have declared are behind Humza.
“We’ve already had a couple of cases of people wrongfully using the party’s internal mailing system to support Humza.”
Emma Harper, the South Scotland MSP, has been reprimanded by SNP officials after she used an internal database to email members about her support for Yousaf.
However, asked about Cherry’s “party machine” claim by PA during a visit to Kilmarnock HALO hub on Monday, Forbes said: “I have confidence ultimately in members. We’ve got 100,000 members. It’s one member, one vote.
“Ultimately when it comes to the ballot box I’ve got great confidence that members will choose the candidate they want and I’m so happy to support whatever that outcome is.”
Pressed by The National to address the specific claim of a “party machine” working in support of Yousaf, Forbes said: “I don’t believe that there are any conspiracies or otherwise.
"I think that this is a fair, open, transparent process and I think it’s for all candidates to make their case and receive their backing.”
Asked if that meant Cherry was wrong, Forbes said: “I’ve made my case here that I have confidence in the process, confidence that it’s an open, transparent process, and ultimately it’s for party members.
“I think party members want to know where candidates stand and how they're going to lead the country to independence. They care more about that than structures, hierarchies and so on.”
Forbes also suggested that the media reporting on the SNP leadership race may be painting a picture of a party more riven with division than in reality.
She said: “I think what we’ve seen is a sharp contrast between the hustings amongst members, which are very good-natured, very well-informed and quite relaxed, compared with some of the press coverage, which might suggest that there are deeper rifts than is actually the case.”
Forbes went on: “I think there’s a big difference between unity and uniformity. For a party to be healthy, to have healthy debate, you need to have disagreement and discussion. That means that you need to foster an environment of not just imposing uniformity.
“Our unity is around independence and making Scotland a better place to live and work, and I see that unity in all the hustings that we’ve done.”
As it stands, Yousaf has the backing of more parliamentarians than his two rivals in the race. He has 38 MPs and MSPs behind him to Forbes’s 12 and Regan’s one, according to a count kept by Ballot Box Scotland.
Forbes began the race with an early lead amongst members, according to polling of SNP voters from the BIG Partnership.
However, a more recent Savanta survey of party members suggested that Yousaf had closed the gap and possibly taken the lead.
"This first poll of SNP members really indicates that the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon is too close to call,” Savanta political research director Chris Hopkins said.
“While Humza Yousaf narrowly leads Kate Forbes, with such a high proportion of undecided voters, it’s difficult to be able to say definitively who is really in the lead.”
