Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

The rise and rise of the SNP’s Kate Forbes

Few ministers are tested as abruptly as Kate Forbes has been. The SNP’s junior finance minister was promoted to the Scottish cabinet ten days ago and three weeks after Derek Mackay’s resignation forced her to deliver the budget with hours’ notice. Nicola Sturgeon’s minority government can typically rely on the dutiful support of the nationalist Scottish Greens but, come budget time, the finance secretary has to crack out the national credit card and buy the swampies off.

Given the circumstances of Mackay’s departure and Forbes’ sudden elevation aged just 29, the Scottish government was more vulnerable than ever. Green leader Patrick Harvie could have produced a wish list and come away with his biggest ever budget haul. The SNP couldn’t afford a budget stalemate and many ministers in Forbes’ position would have showered the Greens in cash to get them onside. Instead, she has agreed to £95m in additional funds for councils, £45m for low-carbon projects and £18m for the police.

The modesty of these concessions is striking. This time last year, the Greens got £90m for local government, the raising of the cap on council tax hikes, a tourism tax and a workplace parking tax. In 2018, Mackay gave them an extra £170m for councils, pay rises for 75 per cent (rather than 51 per cent) of public sector staff, and the closing of an income tax loophole worth £55m. The previous year, Harvie secured £160m for the council grant, £35m for the Scottish Enterprise quango, £25m for police reform and maintenance of the higher income tax rate threshold at £43,000.

Scottish Greens would point to the new finance secretary’s commitment to free bus travel for those aged 18 and under.

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