Kate Forbes, Scotland’s finance and economy secretary, has announced her candidacy to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the pro-independence Scottish National party and as the government’s first minister.
In a statement on Twitter, Forbes said she had the “vision, experience and competence to inspire voters across Scotland” and that she was a “unifier”.
“I can’t sit back and watch our nation thwarted on the road to self-determination,” she said on Monday.
Forbes is the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed Sturgeon, who announced her resignation on Wednesday last week. Her chances were boosted on Monday when Angus Robertson, cabinet secretary for the constitution and external affairs and another party heavyweight, ruled himself out of the contest.
Robertson, a former leader of the SNP group at Westminster, had been seen as one of the leading potential candidates to replace Sturgeon.
“As the father of two very young children, the time is not right for me and my family to take on such a huge commitment,” Robertson said in a statement on Monday.
Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf and Ash Regan, former community safety minister, have already announced they will stand for election as leader of the governing SNP.
SNP members will vote to elect their new leader between March 13 and March 27.
