Greens attack Kate Forbes at Swinney's first FMQs

The Scottish Greens have urged First Minister John Swinney not to adopt the "repressive values of the 1950s" after appointing Kate Forbes as his deputy.

Ms Forbes was criticised by Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie for her views on LGBT rights, gay marriage and abortion.

She returned to government following a year on the backbenches after agreeing last week not to stand against Mr Swinney for the SNP leadership.

Making his debut at First Minister's Questions, he defended his deputy and insisted the minority SNP government would be a "moderate left of centre” administration.

Mr Swinney was officially sworn in on Wednesday after Humza Yousaf resigned as the result of the fallout from his decision to rip up a power-sharing agreement with the Greens.

Ms Forbes, a member of the Free Church of Scotland who has been criticised for her socially conservative views, returned to government as his deputy, as well as cabinet secretary for the economy and Gaelic.

The Greens abstained in the vote to nominate Mr Swinney as first minister, guaranteeing him a majority, but Mr Harvie urged the new first minister to give a signal of what direction his new government would take.

He said: “Yesterday that signal came pretty clearly - progressive ministers sacked, and the second most powerful job in government given to someone who has opposed LGBT people’s legal equality, who has expressed judgemental attitudes against abortion, and who has even expressed the view that people who have families without being married are doing something wrong.”

He asked: “Is this the Scottish government’s vision for the future of Scotland - taking us back to the repressive values of the 1950s?”

Mr Harvie questioned whether the first minster understood “just how worried” many LGBT people and others were in Scotland.

He went on to demand that Mr Swinney continued with “progressive” taxation and did not “give in to the right wing of his party”.

The SNP leader said his government would be led from the “moderate left of centre” political position.

The first minister said Ms Forbes had delivered progressive taxation during her time as finance secretary, between 2020 and 2023. During that time, her budgets were supported by the Scottish Greens.

“I want to lead a modern, dynamic and diverse Scotland, Mr Swinney said. ”A place for everybody, where everybody feels at home, at peace, where they have a place and that their place in our society is protected by my leadership of this country.”

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Ms Forbes said: "I am here to support the first minister and together we serve all communities in Scotland as we further and progress the rights of every community in Scotland, and I look forward to doing my part in achieving the government's aims in that regard.”

She said she had signed up the government’s collective responsibility, adding: “So I stand by the government's decisions and agenda to improve and progress the rights of all of Scotland's communities."

Government shake-up

MSPs voted to formally approve the appointment of Ms Forbes later on Thursday.

The Greens opposed the move, with MSP Ross Greer telling parliament: "We cannot support the appointment of someone who believes not only that equal marriage is wrong, but also children being born outside of marriage."

The official LGBT+ wing of the SNP also said it had “concerns” about the appointment.

The Out For Independence executive posted on social media saying it wanted “urgent clarification” that policies such as a ban on conversion therapy would not be “stalled”.

Ms Forbes was the only addition to Mr Swinney's cabinet, with the rest of Mr Yousaf's senior team retained.

However, the new first minister discarded the minister for independence from his first government.

Jamie Hepburn, who held the post, took over as minister for parliamentary business from George Adam.

Mr Adam, as well as former ministerial colleagues Joe Fitzpatrick and Emma Roddick, have moved to the backbenches, while Ivan McKee - an ally of Ms Forbes - returned to government as public finance minister.

Douglas Ross accused the first minister of breaking promises to the public

Mr Swinney served in SNP cabinets for 16 years before stepping down from government in 2023.

At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross asked whether the government would uphold a commitment made by Mr Swinney in his previous role as education secretary to increase teacher numbers by 3,500 by 2026.

He pointed to a report commissioned by the government, published this week, that said the target would have “significant implications for cost and sustainability” and could raise questions about whether it delivered “maximum value for money”.

The report found teacher numbers had fallen by 252 from 2021 to 2023.

Mr Ross also pointed to reports Glasgow City Council could cut about 450 teacher jobs over three years.

He told MSPs the government had a record of "broken promises" on education and said it was "not being straight" with Scots. He repeatedly asked Mr Swinney to confirm whether or not the teachers number target would be met.

The first minister said the government was dealing with "enormous" financial pressures, including austerity measures by the UK government and "rampant" inflation.

He pledged to be honest with the public about the challenges his government faced.

'Traumatic' time for SNP

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar echoed concerns about teacher numbers and dismissed Mr Swinney's "warm words".

He said the SNP leader was "trapped by the past, defending his own record as Scotland's children pay the price".

He asked: "After being at the heart of every SNP failure for the past 17 years, why does John Swinney think Scotland should accept more of the same?"

The first minister, who admitted the past week had been "traumatic" for his party, replied: "I've got good news for Anas Sarwar.

"The fresh leadership has just arrived - and I'm here to deliver it."