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Kate Forbes’ political career began with role paid by anti-abortion lobby group

Exclusive: SNP leadership candidate previously worked for shadowy Christian right group that doesn’t declare funders

By Adam Ramsay and Caitlin Logan
Kate Forbes’ political career began with role paid by anti-abortion lobby group
Kate Forbes got her political break through an anti-abortion lobbyist group | PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
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SNP leadership contender Kate Forbes’ first job in the Scottish parliament was funded by an anti-abortion Christian lobby group that doesn’t disclose its financial backers, openDemocracy can reveal.

The group, Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE), is known for its opposition to abortion, sex education and LGBTIQ+ rights. It has long funded a controversial internship scheme in the Scottish parliament, paying for young supporters to act as researchers for MSPs for around a year, so they can learn better how to influence public policy.

Speaking to openDemocracy today, retired SNP MSP Dave Thompson, Forbes’ predecessor as the MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, confirmed that her time working with him, believed to be around 2011, was funded through CARE’s scheme.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0