KATE Forbes’s campaign has said she did respond to a pressure group after they accused her of lying about doing so.
During the Channel 4 SNP leadership debate on Thursday night, Forbes insisted she had responded to a letter from Back Off Scotland, a group which campaigns for anti-choice protests to be banned outside abortion clinics, despite Humza Yousaf claiming she had not.
I can confirm that Kate signed off the response and it was my error that it wasn’t sent until this evening. She spoke entirely in good faith as she always does. https://t.co/2dADXGfx3N
— Michelle Thomson (@MichelleThomson) March 9, 2023
The group took to Twitter to claim the Finance Secretary had “lied on national TV” after a response to the letter was sent around 10 minutes after Forbes made the claim.
Forbes's campaign said she had signed off on a response but it had not been sent on time in error and they had apologised to the campaign.
Michelle Thomson, who is involved with the Finance Secretary’s campaign publicly took responsibility for the blunder, tweeting: “I can confirm that Kate signed off the response and it was my error that it wasn’t sent until this evening. She spoke entirely in good faith as she always does.”
A spokesperson for Forbes said: "Kate had signed off on the letter and assumed in good faith it had been sent well before tonight’s debate.
“Due to an administrative error, the response had not been sent – though we can confirm it is now with Back Off Scotland.
“We would never seek to mislead the public and have issued our apologies to Back Off Scotland for this oversight.”
