Kate Forbes drops out of SNP leadership contest paving way for John Swinney

We are going to leave this blog here for today. Here’s a recap of what has been happening:

• Voters have headed to the polls in the local council and mayoral elections, which will be the final test of public opinion ahead of the general election later this year. Polls are open from 7am to 10pm and the first results are expected in the early hours of Friday morning.
• A total of 11 mayoral contests are taking place, including for the London mayoralty between frontrunners, Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan and Tory challenger Susan Hall.
• It is too late to prevent this year’s general election from the risks of misinformation spread via artificial intelligence, an eminent computer scientist has warned.

• Conservative MP Tom Hunt has said his dyspraxia caused him to misplace his photo ID, forcing him to arrange an emergency proxy vote the local elections.
• The UK economy is set for “sluggish” growth over the next two years, with expectations falling short of previous forecasts.
• Some 711 people were detected crossing the English Channel on Wednesday, the highest number on a single day so far this year, the Home Office said.
• John Swinney declared “I’m no caretaker” as he launched his bid to become the new leader of the SNP and Scotland’s next first minister.
• Mr Swinney insisted: “Having served as a senior minister for 16 years, having helped steer Scotland so close to independence in 2014, I want to give all I have in me to ensure the success of our cause.”
• Mr Swinney said that if elected he would want former finance secretary Kate Forbes to play a “significant part” in his team.

• Former Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes later announced she will not run for SNP leader. She hinted at her desire to accept Mr Swinney’s offer to return to Government, should he take on the top job.
• The Conservatives’ share of voting intentions in the general election has sunk to 18 per cent, the lowest level this Parliament and the lowest level since Theresa May’s 2019 European election nadir, according to a YouGov poll.
• A “number” of protesters blocking a coach in a bid to stop asylum seekers being taken to the Bibby Stockholm barge have been arrested, police said.

See more about when the local election results will be declared here.

For more on the types of ID accepted at polling stations, click here.

SNP MPs have “applaud[ed]” Kate Forbes’ statement ruling herself out of the leadership race and her decision with John Swinney to “work together for SNP unity”.

Joanna Cherry said:

The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Ms Forbes was “one of the best in the business”:

A Number 10 spokeswoman said protests in Peckham and Margate aiming to stop groups of asylum seekers being moved to the Bibby Stockholm barge are “unacceptable”.

“Clearly this disruption and disorder was completely unacceptable and it is unacceptable for Home Office staff to be prevented from carrying out their work,” the spokeswoman said.

She added: “We have always acted to ensure that police have powers that they need to manage protest and tackle disorder. They have our full support in using those powers and upholding the law.”

The Home Office withdrew plans to move a group in Margate to the barge following action by residents to disrupt coaches on April 24 and 25.

On Thursday, police were called after a separate group of protesters blocked a coach believed to be set to take asylum seekers from a hotel in Peckham, south east London, to the barge.

John Swinney has called Kate Forbes’ statement announcing she will not be running for the SNP leadership “graceful, welcome and thoughtful”.

He told Sky News: “I’m delighted to receive her endorsement and her support, and I think it is very encouraging about how we take the SNP forward.”

Conservative MPs are braced for a fresh bout of plotting against Rishi Sunak in the wake of the local elections across England and Wales.

Most backbenchers claim they remain loyal to the Prime Minister but many expect a small number of rebels to resume their attempts to replace him before the general election.

The mayoral contests in West Midlands and the Tees Valley – both currently held by the Tories – are seen as holding the key to whether or not Mr Sunak faces a formal challenge in the coming days.

One MP told i: “I think there’s going to be some mischief at the end of the week.” They warned that the party’s internal culture had become more divided, saying: “We’ve always been a broad church which can tolerate people disagreeing. But we’ve lost that now – everyone is a devil or a hero.”

Read more here.

John Swinney is currently the only MSP contending to be the SNP leader, meaning his road to becoming Scotland’s next first minister is open.

Kate Forbes, his main potential rival from within the party’s Holyrood group, announced she will not be running against him.

Here are some of the key questions about what will unfold in Scottish politics over the next few days.

• When does the party’s leadership process officially end?

Nominations for the SNP leadership close at noon on Monday, 6 May.

Those who wish to run for the top job in the party must gather 100 nominations from 20 different branches. This means a party member could technically force a leadership contest if they received enough signatures – but they could not become first minister without being an MSP.

So far there is no indication anyone is making a serious attempt to do so.

If there were to be a leadership contest, ballots would open on Monday, 13 May and close on Monday, 27 May.

• When will the next first minister take over?

Assuming no last-minute challengers emerge, Mr Swinney will likely become first minister next week.

The Scottish government cabinet usually meets on Tuesdays and MSPs must formally elect a new first minister at Holyrood. Those becoming first minister are required to swear three oaths of office at the Court of Session.

After Humza Yousaf was sworn in last year, he appointed his cabinet team later the same day.

• What will Kate Forbes do?

Ms Forbes, the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, made her intentions known on Thursday afternoon, ending days of speculation around whether she would have another tilt at the leadership.

She said the best way of delivering reforms she wanted to see would be from within the Scottish government and ruled herself out of the contest, backing Mr Swinney’s bid.

If she were to join a government led by Mr Swinney, there would be much interest in exactly which position she was offered. After losing to Mr Yousaf last year, Ms Forbes was reportedly offered the rural affairs portfolio in his government which she turned down – opting to go to the back benches instead.

• What will happen to Humza Yousaf?

After resigning as First Minister, Mr Yousaf will continue as a backbench MSP, representing Glasgow Pollok.

He says he is passionate about issues like positive masculinity and will continue to be a “voice for peace” on Gaza and international affairs.

A “number” of protesters blocking a coach in a bid to stop asylum seekers being taken to the Bibby Stockholm barge have been arrested, police said.

The activists have been held for obstructing the highway after the protest near the Best Western Hotel in Peckham, south London.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: “Police were called at around 8.40am to reports of a group of protesters near a hotel in Peckham Road SE15.

“There were reports that a coach had been obstructed by people and bicycles. A number of people have been arrested for offences including obstruction of the highway, and one for a racially aggravated public order offence. They have all been taken into custody.”

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “My officers were quickly on scene and have engaged with the protesters at length. My officers had warned the group that obstructing the highway, and obstructing police, are criminal offences and that they could be arrested.

“We will always respect the right to peaceful protest but we have been clear that where there is serious disruption and criminality then we will take decisive action. The situation is ongoing and we will provide more information when we can.”

Home Secretary James Cleverly said earlier today the protesters “will not… deter us from doing what is right for the British public”.

He said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Housing migrants in hotels costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds every day.

“We will not allow this small group of students, posing for social media, to deter us from doing what is right for the British public.”

The Government intends to add veteran ID cards to a list of approved identification for voting.

A Government spokesperson said: “Our intention is for the new veteran card, which was rolled out in January 2024, to be added to the official list of recognised identification – and we are already consulting on this. Defence identity cards for serving Armed Forces members are already accepted.

“The introduction of the requirement to show photographic identification for voting in person across Great Britain is in line with long-standing arrangements in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, and has been recommended by international election watchdogs, including the Electoral Commission.

“The vast majority of voters in the polling station – 99.75 per cent – cast their vote successfully at the local elections in England in May 2023, and we are confident that they will be able to do so at these polls.”

Deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda may well be the most obscene and morally debased nadir of a Conservative government that has wallowed in a gutter of sleaze and scandal.

The policy has been opposed by Labour, but mostly on technocratic grounds – as “expensive” and “unworkable”. These are secondary objections. If we are to have a functioning asylum policy, we need a rational debate, and that requires politicians to speak less like bureaucratic functionaries and more like political leaders with clear morals.

The far-right language that dominates the debate is of “illegal migrants”, “bogus asylum seekers”, even “invaders”. Labour has to find a moral register to counter this narrative that those seeking refuge here are illegitimate.

The UN estimates that there are more than 100 million people displaced due to war, persecution, and famine. About half are internally displaced – meaning that they have been forced to flee their homes, but are still within their own country.

A tiny dribble of this displaced mass of humanity comes to Europe, and a small proportion of that comes to the UK (many because they have family or friends here, or have worked with UK businesses or the British Army).

And yet here we are, the sixth largest economy in the world, a signatory to the Refugee Convention and to the European Convention on Human Rights (both ratified by Winston Churchill), passing legislation to bribe a dictatorship to take asylum seekers so we don’t have to.

Read more here.

The Conservatives may be braced for a difficult night on Thursday – but recent history shows that the results of the local and mayoral elections are not automatic predictors for the outcome of the next general election.

Tory plotters unhappy with Rishi Sunak’s leadership may use this week’s results as a reason to oust him and give the party a fighting chance when the nationwide poll comes.

But while there will be some useful clues from this set of elections to how the public may vote in that general election, the Prime Minister will have a claim – rightly – that it is still all to play for.

Read more here.

The race to be the new leader of the SNP could provide the party with a “reset moment” to stymie the momentum of Labour north of the border, the UK’s premier polling expert has said.

The new leader will take over at a time of turmoil for the SNP, with a number of polls showing a shrinking gap between the party and Labour at both Westminster and Holyrood elections.

But speaking to the PA news agency, Professor Sir John Curtice said the momentum was not irreversible.

“This is the reset moment,” he said. “What is now crucial is do the SNP get somebody in place who can unite the party, get an accommodation with the Greens and project the party and the cause of independence much more effectively than was the case for the last 12 months?

“I have some question marks about [John] Swinney on the second criteria, but he certainly should be able to do it on the first.”

Sir John hinted that it would be important for the party to avoid a “divisive” contest which could result in a “weak leader”.

“That’s what happened 12 months ago,” he said. “To be frank, I think both Swinney and [Kate] Forbes could do a better job than [Humza] Yousaf, they’ve got their respective advantages and disadvantages.”

The Strathclyde University professor went on to say opposition politicians had “overplayed their hand” in bringing about the downfall of Mr Yousaf.

In the aftermath of the scrapping of the Bute House agreement, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross tabled a motion of no confidence in the First Minister. In their anger at how the agreement ended, the Greens planned to back the motion to oust Mr Yousaf, forcing him to seek a deal with the Alba Party which he eventually rejected.

“They have brought down a serious weak link for the SNP,” he said.

Problems, including the police investigation into the SNP’s finances and the party’s record in Government, “aren’t going to go away tomorrow, but that’s the reason you need a good, strong, effective leader and I suspect that either Swinney or Forbes will be in a better position than Yousaf to provide that”.

Turning to Labour, the polling expert said the main reason for the rise of Labour in Scotland was the same as it is in the rest of the UK – Boris Johnson and “Partygate” mixed with Liz Truss and her mini-Budget.

It was not until after the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon, he said, that Labour were able to gain some pro-independence voters and the “most immediate” challenge for the new SNP leader is to try and win those voters back.

Kate Forbes thanked SNP members who had reached out and urged her to stand, recognising some may be disappointed.

“To those people I say this – you can be certain that delivering on the priorities for which we have, together, advocated in recent years has been at the heart of today’s decision,” she said.

“It is now clear from this morning’s statement that in John Swinney we have someone who not only understands that need for reform, but has now committed to delivering it.

“I look forward to playing my role in making that happen.”

Kate Forbes also hinted at her desire to accept John Swinney’s offer to return to government, should he take on the top job.

In her statement released on Thursday, she said: “Ultimately, I have concluded that the best way to deliver the urgent change Scotland needs is to join with John Swinney and advocate for that reform agenda within the Scottish Government.”

Announcing the launch of his campaign on Thursday, Mr Swinney praised his former cabinet colleague as “intelligent, creative, thoughtful person who has much to contribute” to public life.

Promising she would play a “significant part” in his team, he added: “If elected I will make sure Kate is able to make that contribution.”

Talks between Kate Forbes and former deputy first minister John Swinney, she said, were “both frank and constructive”.

“What emerged was that we share a powerful common purpose for the country,” she added.

“That includes a passion to revitalise our party, reach out to those who feel disempowered and reinvigorate the independence movement.

“It also includes an understanding that economic growth and tackling poverty must again be key priorities, and that a just transition to ‘net zero’ must work with, and not against, our communities and businesses.

“But more than that, John is clear that he is determined to return the SNP to governing from the mainstream. Competent, candid government earning the trust of the people.

“That was the vision I offered in the last leadership contest, and is evidently demanded by the Scottish public.”

Kate Forbes has decided not to stand for the SNP leadership, leaving rival John Swinney to take charge and become Scotland’s next first minister.

The 34-year-old’s backers had urged her to make it a contest, rather than a coronation, and let the SNP membership decide who should succeed Humza Yousaf.

But Ms Forbes said she had concluded that “the best way to deliver the urgent change Scotland needs is to join with John Swinney and advocate for that reform agenda within the Scottish government”.

Mr Swinney publicly offered her a senior job in his government when he launched own leadership campaign on Thursday morning. The 60-year-old veteran said he wanted her to join him and “play a significant part” in the Scottish government.

Ms Forbes told her supporters in the party that she recognised “many people might be disappointed” at her decision. But she said Mr Swinney “understands that need for reform”.

She said Mr Swinney had said he would return to “governing from the mainstream” a sign that he has agreed to move away from the left-wing, Green-led policies that angered many of her supporters.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said during First Minister’s Questions today that with Scotland facing the “greatest challenges” since the creation of the Holyrood parliament 25 years ago, its people “cannot afford this distracted, divided and incompetent SNP government”.

He told MSPs: “Regardless of who the SNP impose, they won’t be able to fix this mess and deliver the change Scotland needs.”

He said while the country is “crying out for change”, the SNP only offers “more of the same”.

Mr Sarwar continued: “We need a government that is focused on fixing the mess the SNP have made.”
Speaking about the SNP, he added: “They are so divided, so chaotic and so dysfunctional that they cannot now provide the stable, competent government our country needs.

“That is why we need an election.”

But Humza Yousaf then reminded Mr Sarwar that Holyrood had rejected a motion of no confidence in the Government Labour had brought in a vote on Wednesday.

Hitting out at the Labour leader, the First Minister said: “Anas Sarwar asks us to concentrate on the day job – can I remind him it was Anas Sarwar and his party that yesterday brought forward a motion of no confidence that they knew they were going to lose.”

He said that “waste of time” meant Holyrood had less time to debate the issue of compensation for women affected by state pension rule changes.

“It is a disgrace that the Labour Party led by Anas Sarwar abstained on a motion that demanded full compensation to women who have suffered such a disgraceful injustice,” Mr Yousaf said.

Former Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes has announced she will not run for SNP leader following Humza Yousaf’s resignation.

The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP narrowly lost to Mr Yousaf in the SNP leadership election last year.

Several senior party members backed her for a rerun at the top job, including those regularly at odds with the SNP leadership such as Joanna Cherry and Fergus Ewing.

Humza Yousaf admitted he had made mistakes during his time on the Scottish Government frontbenches as he faced what may have been his final appearance at First Minister’s Questions.

He announced earlier this week he will step down as First Minister following a period of political turmoil sparked by his decision to end the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens.

Mr Yousaf later said he did not fully understand how the abrupt decision would anger the Greens, who later said they would back a Conservative-led motion of no confidence in his leadership and effectively forced him from office.

Confronted by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross – who said his party had forced Mr Yousaf to resign “in disgrace” by tabling the motion – the First Minister said: “Of course (Mr Ross) has every right and prerogative to gloat about the position that I am in. The only exception I would take to Douglas Ross is no, I don’t feel disgraced at all.”

The First Minister went on to say he is “very proud” to have been the first person of colour to lead Scotland, the first Muslim to lead a Western nation and the youngest person to hold the position.

He added: “Most of all, I’m proud to have served my Government, this Government, my country for 12 years on the frontbenches. Did I get everything right? Absolutely not, and that’s very evident and very clear.

“But can I be proud of this Government’s record? Absolutely.”

He highlighted that the SNP has abolished tuition fees, made personal care free and scrapped prescription fees.

Thursday’s session of FMQs could have been his last if just one person steps forward to succeed him, avoiding a leadership contest. Former deputy first minister John Swinney has put his name forward for the leadership and nominations close at noon on Monday.

Mr Ross also took aim at Mr Swinney, just hours after he launched his campaign for the top job.

“The SNP’s man for the future is their failed leader from the past,” he said, referencing Mr Swinney’s four-year tenure at the head of the party in the early 2000s.

Mr Swinney’s election as leader would be moving from “one continuity candidate to another”, Mr Ross said, as he accused the former deputy first minister of being a “human shield” for his former boss Nicola Sturgeon.

“For 16 out of the 17 years of SNP Government, John Swinney sat round the Cabinet table,” he added.

“His fingerprints are all over their most toxic policies – how will going back to the future get the SNP out of the mess that they’re in?”

Responding, the First Minister said both John Swinney and Kate Forbes – another prospective candidate for the leadership – are more popular than Mr Ross in opinion polling.

The SNP’s former leader in Westminster and current MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber Ian Blackford, has said that “I know, undoubtedly, that John [Swinney] is the right man” to lead the party.

He told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One: “The opinion polls are showing that we have a challenge; we’ve slipped over the course of the last few months, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re on the side of ordinary voters in Scotland.”

Asked whether Mr Swinney’s heart is really still in it, after he insisted he is “no caretaker” leader, Mr Blackford said: “I’ve known John a long time; we were both teenagers in the SNP together way back in the late ’70s, early ’80s, and I know that this is a man who is absolutely determined to do his level best for the SNP and for the country.

“He did indicate [in the past] that he thought there should be a time for him to step back, and of course he stepped back a year ago. John is still a relatively young man in political terms. He’s 60. My goodness, if you look at the candidates for president in the US, he has a lot of life in him yet.

“I know that John has the determination, the skills, the ability, to make sure he delivers on the promise that he has [made].

“He’s stepping up to become first minister having had a very, very long apprenticeship. This is the time for John to show how he can lead.”

Asked why Kate Forbes should not be leader, Mr Blackford said: “Kate is someone I know well […] She’s got a lot to offer […] But I think at the end end of the day it’s about who is best to leave the SNP now.”

Asked if he knows whether or not Ms Forbes is going to stand for the leadership, he said: “I would strongly suspect that Kate will be looking very closely at what happened this morning, and looking at what is in her best interests, what is in the party and the country’s best interests.

“My appeal to Kate would be: be part of that John Swinney government,” he said, adding that she has a “big part to play”.

Now that we’ve shared some advice on the rules around taking your dog to a polling station today, let’s have a look at some of the pet pictures taken across the country today: