Kate Forbes declines to back Ian Blackford to run in her Holyrood seat

The Deputy First Minister said there needed to be “healthy competition” and she would “wait and see what the options are”.

She said Mr Blackford had not informed her of his intention to put himself forward as a candidate in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

Earlier this week, Mr Blackford told the Scottish Daily Mail he was being encouraged to stand in the seat, and he was giving it “careful consideration”.

It came after Ms Forbes announced she would not seek re-election next year as she wanted to spend more time with her family.

She gave birth to her daughter Naomi in August 2022, and has been open about the challenges of juggling childcare with her demanding government role.

Appearing at The Herald Unspun Live at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Ms Forbes was asked if she would like to see Mr Blackford run.

“He’s not told me that, so I’m taking those headlines with a huge dose of salt at the moment,” she said. “I did have a chat with him a few days ago and that wasn’t in the conversation, so I certainly haven’t heard that.

“But that now becomes a party question as it were because it becomes a question of running a selection context and so on, and the branch members, of which I am one, will make their decision.

“But I do think there needs to be a healthy competition, and certainly he's not told me that.”

She added: "I will wait and see what the options are.”

Mr Blackford represented Ross, Skye and Lochaber at Westminster from 2015 to 2024.

Ms Forbes was seen by many within the SNP as a potential future leader, and there are now claims any future contest for the top job would be between the party’s current Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, and senior minister Màiri McAllan.

Asked who she would pick between these two options, Ms Forbes said: “I won’t answer that because I would question the premise in the first place. So in questioning the premise there are going to be two options, I think we need to see what the real options are over the course of the next few years.”