Backlash over suggestions Kate Forbes won’t want Scottish first minister job because she’s had baby

‘We have to stop assuming that women lose their ambition when they have a baby,’ founder of Pregnant then Screwed says

Speculation that Kate Forbes will not want to become Scotland’s new first minister because she is on maternity leave has been fiercely criticised by campaigners, who warn such assumptions are discriminatory.

First minister Nicola Sturgeon stepped down in a tearful speech at a press conference held in her official residence, Bute House in Edinburgh, on Wednesday after leading the party for more than eight years.

Ms Forbes, the Scottish finance minister, has been billed as a frontrunner to succeed her SNP leader. The 32-year-old, who has moved quickly up the political ranks, had her first child in August.