KATE Forbes has insisted she is “not a quitter” after announcing she would not be standing for re-election.
The Deputy First Minister told The Herald’s Unspun live show at the Edinburgh Fringe that she did not want her announcement to be seen as “standing down in the face of difficulty”.
She also revealed that she had made the decision not to stand again after visiting an orphanage in India on a family trip this summer.
Forbes, who represents Skye, Lochaber, and Badenoch, said that she “didn’t have the heart” to put her young daughter through another five years of her being largely absent and “outsourcing her upbringing”.
She added that former SNP MP Ian Blackford had not told her he was going to bid for her seat and said she was taking reports with a “huge dose of salt”.
Asked what the reasons were behind her decision not to fight the Holyrood 2026 election, Forbes said she had made the decision in mid-July after the family visit to India.
Recounting visiting an orphanage on the trip, she explained: “I was just really overwhelmed that these kids, these really precious kids, didn’t have something that my daughter did have and that my absence from home so often was a serious matter.
“I realised that in voluntarily signing up for another five years, I was choosing to essentially say goodbye to her every Monday morning and say hello again, hopefully, on a Friday night – on a good week, sometimes on a Saturday night … I just don’t have the heart to do that for another five years.”
Forbes added: “Every election is a choice, and to voluntarily choose to essentially outsource my daughter’s upbringing was a sacrifice too far.
“So whilst it was a really difficult decision, and has been a difficult decision – I don’t want to let people down – I’m conscious of the impact it will have on my own patch, when you boil it down like that, it becomes a really easy decision and a really simple decision to make.
“I came back from India mid-July thinking that I knew what I needed to do. And then obviously I had to have conversations that I needed to have.”
Forbes said that she hoped her departure from politics would force the Scottish Parliament to “fix the basics” and give MSPs more nursery hours to allow them to do their job whilst having a family life.
“I'd love that to be one of the changes that my decision delivers, because there are other mums and dads in that Parliament, some of whom will be elected for the first time in the next election.
“I think that’s the least we can do to support carers and parents to ensure that there is a facility that is not limited to three hours per day.”
She added that politics had become a “pretty brutal” place, adding that social media had become “much more toxic” in recent years and that has translated into “real-life abuse”.
“The world is an angrier place,” she said.
“I find that really exhausting. It’s a tough gig.”
“I think you get used to the anger,” she added.
“I am not a quitter, my choice to stand down is not – I don’t want to be characterised as quitting in the face of difficulty.
“I have made that decision with all polling suggesting that I would win my constituency seat. I’m not a quitter. But I do find that argument absolutely exhausting.”
Forbes announced on Monday that she wouldn’t be seeking re-election to spend more time with her young family, and told the event she didn’t know what she would be doing next.
After her announcement, reports surfaced suggesting Blackford, the former MP for Ross, Skye, and Lochaber, was considering putting himself in the running after encouragement from members.
Forbes said that she had spoken to Blackford in recent days and he had not mentioned considering seeking the seat.
“I had a chat with him a few days ago and that certainly wasn’t in the conversation,” she said.
Forbes added that the question of her successor is an issue for local party members.
“I do think it needs to be a healthy competition and certainly he hasn’t told me that,” she added.
The DFM refused to be drawn on if she would vote for Blackford to be her successor, adding that she would wait to see who the candidates are.
