The resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as Leader of the Scottish National Party and her impending departure as First Minister has led to an unexpected row within and outside the party. One of the candidates to succeed her is Humza Yousaf MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and a devout Muslim; another is Kate Forbes MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy and an equally-devout member of the Free Church of Scotland. (The third, Ash Regan MSP, served as Cabinet Secretary for Community Safety from 2018 until 2022, when she stepped down in a protest over the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill passed in Holyrood in December.)

Ms Forbes’s candidacy, in particular, has aroused a good deal of angst on the basis of her opposition to same-sex marriage and children being born outside wedlock. Continue reading →