It’s less than 24 hours since the SNP leadership election became a three horse race but already there seems to be a disproportionate focus on LGBT issues. Ash Regan was out of the blocks first, saying she would dump Nicola Sturgeon’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill if she replaced her as First Minister. Then this afternoon Kate Forbes, a staunch member of the Free Church, threw her weight behind Regan’s stance and added that she would not have supported same-sex marriage had she been an MSP at the time it was debated in the Scottish parliament.
And now tonight Humza Yousaf has hit back at Forbes with a barely-concealed jibe at his rival on LBC’s Andrew Marr Show saying:
I’m a supporter of equal marriage. Let me get to the crux of the issue that you’re asking me. I’m a Muslim. I’m somebody who’s proud of my faith. I’ll be fasting during Ramadan in a few weeks’ time. But what I don’t do is, I don’t use my faith as a basis of legislation. What I do as a representative, as a leader, as a Member of the Scottish Parliament is my job is to bring forward policy and pursue it in the best interest of the country.
Ouch. So much for those Forbes’ supporters who hoped she would be able to put questions about faith and politics to bed. Yousaf is, curiously, now the only contender in the race who supports the SNP’s liberal social agenda – an agenda that was unerringly followed until recently. So much for that famed party discipline…
With the contest less than a week old, how many more shibboleths will be overturned by the time ballots close?
Comments