Kate Forbes: I plan to take at least three months off after quitting politics
The Deputy First Minister said she looked forward to being ‘boring’
Kate Forbes has revealed she plans to take “at least” three months off after standing down at the Holyrood election.
The Deputy First Minister, who previously announced she will not seek re-election, said she looked forward to being “boring”.
The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch made headlines when she announced her decision to quit in August.
The 35-year-old previously ran for the SNP leadership and was widely seen as a potential future first minister.
Speaking to journalists after a business event in Edinburgh, hosted by Scottish Financial Enterprise and True North Advisors, Ms Forbes said she had “no idea” what she will be doing immediately after the upcoming election.
"I will have to wind down my office,” she said. “I think we've set a deadline for winding down the office of May 16, so we're working to that. I think the first week will be just winding down.
"And then I'll be riding off into the sunset. Just, I don't know which sunset yet, or anything else."
She added: "At the moment, I am just going to take, I think, at least three months off, and I have no plans.
"I had wondered about doing something or going somewhere, and actually a summer at home is not something I've enjoyed for a very long time, and I am very much looking forward to being quite boring for the summer. So here's hoping for a good Highland summer."
Ms Forbes was first elected in 2016 and became Scotland's first female finance secretary in 2020.
In 2023, she was narrowly defeated by Humza Yousaf in the SNP leadership contest. During the race, her socially conservative religious views fell under the media spotlight.
In a letter to First Minister John Swinney last year, Ms Forbes said she did not want to “miss any more of the precious early years of family life”. She has a two-year-old daughter and three step-daughters.
“From the very depths of my heart, I have no intentions of coming back to politics,” she told the BBC last year.
“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.”
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