Candidates for the leadership of the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) have until tomorrow Friday to declare themselves. The campaign has already begun, it was to be played above all on the strategy to achieve independence. Ultimately, it is societal issues that take precedence. The last declared candidate, the current finance minister Kate Forbes, suffered a wave of defections.
With our correspondent in London, Emeline Wine
A practicing evangelist and member of a progressive party, Kate Forbes was elected after equal marriage was legalized in Scotland. A reform that the Minister of Finance would not have voted for. But she assures him, she will not go back on it:
” I will defend the rights of all until the end. But as [ministre], quite frankly, I don’t care what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedroom. It’s their business, not mine. Me, I practice my faith as I see fit; they do not share my faith. They can do whatever they want as long as it’s legal. »
As for her own government’s gender recognition law, the minister was on maternity leave.
According to her, her religion and her beliefs are not incompatible with the exercise of power: “ In the same way that I will defend to the end the right to live and love without fear or discrimination. In a plural and tolerant society, I dare to hope that people of faith have the right to practice the teachings of the great religions about marriage. If high office becomes forbidden to people of a certain faith, we are entering a slippery slope. »
Following these declarations, a third of the supporters of Kate Forbes withdrew their sponsorship.