Government Ministers have turned their back on Kate Forbes in the SNP leadership contest and swung behind Health Secretary Humza Yousaf.
Two Cabinet Secretaries and a raft of junior Ministers have come out for Yousaf after Forbes faced a backlash over her opposition to same sex marriage.
Yousaf, Forbes and former Minister Ash Regan are battling it out in the race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister.
MSPs have deserted the Finance Secretary’s floundering campaign while flocking to Yousaf, who represents Glasgow Pollok.
In a statement, Education Cabinet Secretary Shirley-Anne Someville said:
“Like me, @HumzaYousaf believes in a better future for Scotland and with his leadership, I have no doubt that he has the energy and compassion to take us to on to independence. That’s why I’m supporting him to be @theSNP Leader and next First Minister.”
Michael Matheson, the Net Zero Cabinet Secretary, said: “I’ve known Humza for almost 20 years now and I’ve worked with him for the last 8 years in Government. I believe he has the skills, the experience and the passion to drive our nation forward and create a fairer, independent Scotland.”
Other Cabinet Secretaries are expected to back Yousaf in the coming days.
Rising star Mairi McAllan, the Environment Minister, also endorsed Yousaf: “I believe that Humza is someone who can lead and who can govern according to the values that I’ve been really clear are very important to me, namely progress, fairness, inclusivity and kindness.”
Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth said: “Nicola Sturgeon leaves behind her an unparalleled legacy, one of compassion, sincerity, one of hard graft for our people and for the cause of Scotland.
“For me there is no one else in this contest who epitomises those values more than Humza Yousaf.”
Gilruth, who is married to former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdsale, took a swipe at Forbes by saying Yousaf would be a First Minister “who will defend my love for my wife”.
Higher Education Minister Jamie Hepburn also backed him: “I am pleased to be able to back @HumzaYousaf as our next leader of @theSNP and as our next First Minister. He has the ability to bring our party and our movement together as we continue to take Scotland forwards to independence.”
As of yesterday afternoon, 18 SNP MSPs and 8 MPs were supporting Yousaf.
Forbes’ campaign has been rocked by MSPs publicly retracting their initial support over the same sex marriage row.
Richard Lochhead, the just transition minister, tweeted: “I welcomed my colleague Kate Forbes’ decision to join the SNP leadership contest given her talents & felt it would give us a real contest: new ideas and a new approach that we desperately need. However, I agree we can’t have a Party Leader who’d vote against same sex marriage.”
Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin wrote: “We must be full throated in our support of equal marriage. No if or buts. I won’t be supporting Kate’s campaign on that basis. I wish her well- she’s extremely talented. But I have red lines. And this is one.”
Children and Young People Minister Clare Haughey was “delighted” to nominate Forbes, but hours later wrote: “I absolutely and completely support equal marriage. I am unequivocal on this issue. I cannot continue to support Kate’s leadership campaign.”
Public Finance Minister Tom Arthur also ditched her and said: “Equal marriage is amongst our Parliament’s greatest achievements and one that I would have been proud to vote for had I been an MSP when it was passed. Consequently, I am unable to continue to support Kate’s campaign.”
Acting Finance Secretary John Swinney signalled he would not be supporting Forbes after saying said he “profoundly” disagreed with her on same sex marriage:
“I think the thing for me that I would want to say at this stage is all of the debate that has been aired about Kate Forbes’s position for me has got absolutely nothing to do with Kate’s faith.
“I am a man of deep Christian faith, but I don’t hold the same views that Kate has set out in the course of the last couple of days.”
He added: “If Kate wants to set out those views, with which I profoundly disagree despite being a man of deep faith, then the party membership will make their judgement about those views and whether they think those views are appropriate for someone to hold if they are leader of the SNP and first minister.”
Meanwhile, Yousaf said it would be a “really important seminal moment for the country” if he is elected as next first minister.
He would be the first Muslim and the first minority ethnic politician in the top job if he is elected to succeed Sturgeon following her shock resignation.
He told Times Radio: “I think it could be a really important seminal moment for the country potentially, a real demonstration of how far we have come as a country.
“The fact that I am even in the running, somebody who is the grandson of an immigrant who came in the 1960s to this country is even in the running, in contention for the top job in Scotland, I think speaks volumes.
“The fact that by and large questions aren’t about my race but they are about our policies is something to be celebrated.”
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