The Scottish Finance Minister, Derek Mackay resigns hours before delivering his budget amid reports that he sent an inappropriate message to a 16 year old boy. He was forced to resign after admitting that he told the teenager that he was cute, invited him to dinner, promised to take him to a rugby event and flooded the teenage boy with over 250 messages.
“Serving in government has been a huge privilege and I am sorry to have let colleagues and supporters down,” Mackay said in a statement. “I behaved foolishly and I am truly sorry. I apologise unreservedly to the individual involved and his family,” he added.
“I spoke last night with the First Minister and tendered my resignation with immediate effect.” he said.
Mackay was a rising star in the Scottish National Party (SNP), which runs Scotland’s semi-autonomous Edinburgh-based administration and has been widely tipped as a future First Minister. He came out as gay when he left his wife in 2013.