No prize big enough to entice me to stay in frontline politics, says Forbes

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister has said from the “very depths” of her heart, she has no intention of returning to frontline politics after she quits next year.

Kate Forbes announced in the summer she will not stand for Holyrood at May’s election, shocking the Scottish political world.

She cited time pressures with having a young family as well as the logistical issues of travelling between her Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch seat in the north of Scotland to Holyrood.

While she has not completely ruled out a return to frontline politics, the Deputy First Minister has said that, currently, not even a chance of the top job would bring her back.

“From the very depths of my heart, I have no intentions of coming back to politics,” she told the BBC.

“I can’t promise you what I will be doing age 75, but I have no desire to return to frontline politics anytime soon.

“I don’t think there is any prize that’s big enough to change my mind.”

When she married Alasdair MacLennan in 2021, Ms Forbes became stepmother to his three daughters, but she said it was not until she returned to Holyrood from maternity leave after the birth of their daughter Naomi where her desire for the job began to wane.

“I went back to work post maternity leave. It has always felt impossible,” she said.

“Every day has felt like an exercise in logistical impossibilities, and we got through it.”

With the decision to step down coming after a family summer break, Ms Forbes added: “It was like this epiphany – this bolt from the blue – that I didn’t have to.”

She is perhaps the most high-profile MSP to have announced an intention to leave Holyrood next year – a group disproportionately made up of women.

The Scottish Parliament has prided itself on being a family friendly legislature, but Ms Forbes has been critical of the support offered to parents, including a creche only open for short periods three days of the week.