Phillip Schofield has weighed in on Kate Forbes' controversial comments about same sex marriage after launching her campaign to become First Minister of Scotland.
On Wednesday's instalment of This Morning, Phillip was joined by co-host Holly Willoughby, Simon McCoy and Sonia Sodha as they discussed the biggest headlines from across the country.
Discussing the contentious comments made by the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, Simon said he believes the MP is being 'cancelled' and warned about potential consequences.
He said: "The probing that's been poured on her feels to be to be symptomatic of what is going on with a lot of things at the moment.
"If someone says something you disagree with, you just don't want to hear anything. I think we need to be very careful," he warned.
Phillip chimed in: "Everybody is entitled to their own opinions and to be able to say that without being cancelled. At the same time for the people of Scotland, it doesn't seem to be a particularly progressive route to take."
Since launching her leadership bid, the MSP has said in her opinion that having children out of wedlock was “wrong” and revealed she would not have supported same-sex marriage in 2014. She said: “For me, it would be wrong according to my faith, but for you I have no idea what your faith is. So, in a free society you can do what you want.”
Disagreeing with Simon's opinion that Kate Forbes is being cancelled, Sonia said: "This is the thing about it. I don't think she's being cancelled, she is receiving a lot of scrutiny and I agree some of it may be a little over the top.
"But at the same time, she is running to be the political leader of a country and her views on ethical issues are materially relevant and I think the issue is that having very socially conservative views, whether it is because of religious beliefs or something else."
She continued: "When you're out of step with those social values, I do think voters and party members have a right to judge you on the basis of those views."
Simon added: "The problem is that by lunchtime yesterday she'd lost half the support of MPs and MSPs who were very strong backers of hers. At one stage she was the favourite to take over from Nicola Sturgeon but I think everybody agrees now that's unlikely."
Viewers took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the discussion around Kate Forbes personal views, one wrote: "#ThisMorning Forbes opinion effectively is telling LGBT people they should not be equal. She is entitled to her opinion but we are also entitled to turn around and tell her to take her views and shove them."
Another tweeted: "@thismorning Religion isn’t an excuse for hatred. @_KateForbes is a hateful dinosaur. Gay marriage is beautiful, abortion is a right #ThisMorning." A third wrote: "As an MP she’s suppose to represent her constituents opinions and vote accordingly, not vote on her own opinions #thismorning."
"Can people stop using religion as an excuse to be a tw@t with ancient opinions pls #ThisMorning," said another. . Someone else said: "As a Scottish person Kate Forbes has basically ended her chances. #ThisMorning."
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