Kate Forbes on 'exhausting' online abuse and the 'unacceptable' Rupert Everett comments on Nicola Sturgeon

The “destructive” nature of social media is transforming politics for the worse, the Deputy First Minister has warned.

Kate Forbes said the constant misogynistic abuse online was “exhausting” and warned it was spilling over into real life. It came as she criticised the “totally misogynistic” language used by the actor Rupert Everett about Nicola Sturgeon.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes | PA

During an interview with a newspaper, the Hollywood star recently referred to the former first minister as a “witch”.

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Speaking at a special Scotland 2050 conference in Edinburgh on Tuesday, which was focused on the issues affecting the country’s future, Ms Forbes said: “The problem is that these accusations, these criticisms are so often tinged with misogynistic language.”

She added: “It’s abhorrent, it’s despicable. Most remarkable is we’ve now been talking about this for at least six or seven years, and it’s only got worse in that time.”

Ms Forbes said she was subjected to “reams” of such abuse on social media, adding: “It’s only when somebody who should know better makes comments like that that suddenly we all say ‘that’s not acceptable’.

“But this is going on constantly. It is exhausting. It is totally misogynistic.”

Appearing alongside Cherie Blair, the barrister and wife of former prime minister Tony Blair, Ms Forbes said: “I think the destructive nature of social media cannot be understated.

“I think it is going to transform our politics for a generation. It’s going to transform, totally change the type of people that are in politics for a generation, and it is particularly affecting young women.”

Ms Forbes said social media was having an “extraordinarily destructive” impact on young women’s mental health and sense of identity.

The Deputy First Minister added: “It’s not just what happens online, sticks and stones and all that. The problem is this spills over into the real world.

“And I know myself. I’m fairly short, I’m small and if I have people who were once accusing me of all sorts of things on social media then turning up to [MSP] surgeries, as they have done - and there has certainly been press coverage of threats that have been made around actual means of hurting me - it spills over into that.”

Ms Blair said addressing the problem was “easier said than done”, however. She said technology could be a force for good, “but it does need to be policed”.

Tony and Cherie Blair arrive at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral to pay their respects to Alistair Darling. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Elsewhere, Ms Forbes, whose daughter Naomi was born in August 2022, said many women were leaving politics because of issues such as childcare.

“If you can’t keep hold of your mums in politics, then I think you lose a really strong voice for all the other mums out there who are struggling with childcare,” the 35-year-old said.

The Deputy First Minister said she had a “long-standing gripe” about the lack of nursery provision in the Scottish Parliament, compared to Westminster.

She also said she rarely talks about misogynistic abuse on social media and her safety fears because she does not want to put other women off politics.

The Scotland 2050 conference was held in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms on Tuesday.