Nicola Sturgeon

After more than eight years as the head of her country's government, Nicola Sturgeon will resign from her First Minister post, she announced Wednesday.

"In a way, it was a surprise because [she said she was going to go on], but then any leader would say that because you become a lame duck the second you say you're going to resign." Sturgeon will remain first minister until the Scottish National Party can elect a new leader. Both referenced the nasty tone of political discourse and the emotional strain that comes with serving in office. [told the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-scotland-64648879) there was "plenty left in the tank" and that she hoped to be the very politician who could lead Scotland to independence. But when is that ever not the case?" [Journalists in the country were surprised](https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-scotland-64648879/page/2) to be invited to Sturgeon's residence on short notice during the Scottish parliament's recess. A person could essentially be one gender legally on one side of the Scottish-English border and then another gender legally a mile away. "This decision is not a reaction to short-term pressures. [ embroiled in a separate fight with the U.K. prime minister, for a Section 30 order,](https://www.npr.org/2022/06/14/1105025412/first-minister-of-scotland-unveils-campaign-for-scottish-independence) which would grant Edinburgh the power to hold such a vote. Or will it go the direction the rest of the U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the law would undermine U.K.-wide legislation because residents in other parts of the Kingdom do need to undergo a medical exam to change their gender.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon resigned after more than eight years as head of the country's government and independence movement in a surprise ...

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces her intention to resign, saying that part of serving in politics is knowing when it is time to make way for someone ...

government was making a “profound mistake” by vetoing the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Hailed as a landmark by transgender rights activists, the bill would allow people age 16 or older in Scotland to change the gender designation on their identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, The decision caught political observers by surprise, despite the ongoing controversy over the gender recognition measure.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the unexpected announcement Wednesday that she would be resigning from government after eight years in the role ...

- "I could go on for another few months, six months, a year maybe, but I know as time passed, I would have less and less energy to give to the job," Sturgeon said. 7, citing burnout as one of the impetuses for the decision. [champion of the Scottish independence](https://www.axios.com/2019/12/15/nicola-sturgeon-scotland-independence-uk-election) movement and the departure makes her the second high-profile female leader to announce a resignation in recent weeks.

First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has announced her intention to resign from her position as First Minister and leader of the Scottish National ...

Sturgeon is the first woman to serve as First Minister of Scotland, and her resignation marks the end of an era for Scottish politics. During her time as First Minister, Sturgeon has been a strong voice for Scottish independence and has worked to strengthen Scotland's economy and social services. Sturgeon has served in these roles for over eight years and was previously Deputy First Minister for the best part of eight years before that.

Nicola Sturgeon, the figurehead of the Scottish independence movement, dramatically announced on Wednesday that she would resign after eight years as ...

The SNP is due to have a special conference on independence next month. In November, Britain’s Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish government cannot unilaterally hold a second independence referendum. And her husband was caught in a scandal at the end of last year, after it was reported he had personally loaned the SNP £100,000. The independence movement has stalled, with no real chance of a referendum on the cards any time soon. “We will continue to work closely with the @scotgov on our joint efforts to deliver for people across Scotland.” “I have been wrestling with it, albeit with oscillating levels of intensity for some weeks,” the 52-year-old leader said.

The BBC cited a source close to Ms Sturgeon as saying “she's had enough”. Read more at straitstimes.com.

She steered her party through a series of resounding electoral victories and earned a reputation as the best political communicator in Britain. “To achieve that, we must reach across the divide in Scottish politics. And my judgement now is that a new leader will be better able to do this. She said the decision was not linked to recent short-term issues. “But in truth, that can only be done by anyone for so long. “Giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it,” Ms Sturgeon said.

Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scottish first minister on Wednesday, saying her dominance over her party and the country was no longer the asset it once was in ...

LONDON: Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scottish first minister on Wednesday (Feb 15), saying her dominance over her party and the country was no longer the ...

She also helped to blunt criticism of its domestic record in areas such as health and education. "And my judgement now is that a new leader will be better able to do this. She steered her party through a series of resounding electoral victories and earned a reputation as the best political communicator in Britain.

Scottish National party leader to give a press conference in Edinburgh at 11am.

He has experience running SNP election campaigns and, alongside Swinney, is one of the few veterans of the Salmond era. He is not liked on the left of the party after forcing through a change of SNP policy to support However, Swinney briefly served as SNP leader in the early 2000s after Alex Salmond unexpectedly quit as party leader. “I have spent almost three decades in frontline politics, a decade and a half on the top or second-top rung of government. John Swinney, her trusted deputy first minister and one of few senior figures in her small inner circle, could throw his hat into the ring. Of course there are difficult issues confronting the government just now, but when is that ever not the case?

Scotland's first minister will remain in office until successor is elected, but said 'time is right to make way for someone else.'

“This is just a completely wild situation,” they said ahead of the conference. “I’ve literally done this in one capacity or another for all of my life,” she said. She has also been under fire over the housing of a convicted rapist, who changed their gender, in a women’s prison. But the SNP leader has been embroiled in a row with the British government in recent weeks, after it blocked a bill aimed at reforming Scotland’s gender self-declaration laws. “However, since my very first moments in the job, I have believed that part of serving well would be to know almost instinctively when the time is right to make way for someone else. Sturgeon pointed out that she had been a member of the Scottish Parliament since the age of 29, and in government since the age of 37.

The UK's prime minister has thanked Nicola Sturgeon following her resignation as Scotland's first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party. “My thanks ...

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So began the inevitable parsing of her resignation speech, itself praised for its honesty and humility – particularly in contrast to recent UK prime ministerial ...

Those who know Sturgeon well highlight her comments on Wednesday on the polarisation of Scottish politics, and its “brutal” nature – especially for women. Jeane Freeman, whose friendship with Sturgeon was cemented when she worked as her health secretary during the pandemic, told the Guardian: “It’s inevitable that going through something as relentless and all-consuming takes its toll, as I know personally. That Sturgeon was ready to leave the role she has occupied since she seamlessly replaced Alex Salmond in 2014 was no secret. MP Amy Callaghan toppled the former Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson in 2019 and Sturgeon’s delighted fist-pumping reaction, caught unintentionally on camera, went viral at the time. While she leaves the independence question in deadlock, she insisted her decision to step down was anchored in what was right “for the country, for my party and for the independence cause I have devoted my life to”. I will always be a feminist.” But Sturgeon is a woman who likes to craft her own narrative. [harassment complaints made against the former first minister](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/30/alex-salmond-inquiry-upheld-five-sexual-harassment-complaints), constant calls for her to quit, and ultimately her being [cleared](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/22/nicola-sturgeon-cleared-of-knowingly-breaching-ministerial-code) of misleading parliament. In her resignation speech she warmly thanked “my SNP family”, the party she joined as a serious-minded 16-year-old in the 1980s, when support for independence was marginal and membership was not about forging a career in politics. She The superlatives flooded in from supporters and opponents alike, describing Scotland’s first female first minister, who has led her party to political dominance for nearly a decade, as “formidable”, “unparalleled”, “tireless”. [Nicola Sturgeon](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/nicola-sturgeon) in the hours before she publicly announced her resignation as Scotland’s first minister, it was the timing and not the fact of her departure that came as the almighty shock.

She might have been an election winner but in the end the Scottish leader was undone by her own poor judgment.

It was not, they told Sturgeon, in the power of any single politician to define the terms of a referendum. A bill that would allow those wishing to change their legal sex through a simple process of self-identification passed with the support of members of all parties in the Scottish parliament last December. As scandal erupted, Sturgeon intervened and Bryson was sent to a male facility. The first minister could promise referendums every day of the week and twice on Sundays but the power to run a question on the constitution lies firmly in Westminster. government would insist there had been no legitimate referendum; on the other hand, if the pro-independence parties came up short, London’s response would be that Sturgeon had had her second referendum and had lost for a second time. If a majority of Scots backed pro-independence parties — the SNP, the Scottish Greens, and Alex Salmond’s Alba — she would take this as an instruction to begin secession talks with the prime minister of the day. After describing this ruling as evidence Scottish democracy was being denied, Sturgeon declared her intention to treat the next U.K. Then came a series of developments — the election of a majority Conservative government at Westminster in 2015, victory for the Brexit campaign in the following year’s referendum on membership of the European Union (while the majority of Scots backed remain), the installation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019 — each of which Sturgeon declared would tip support for independence. In fact, for all her many triumphs, Sturgeon — through a series of poor judgment calls — is the architect of her own downfall. Rather than explaining that winning the opportunity to stage a second referendum would be incredibly difficult, she led her followers to believe the prize was within grasp. Here, after all, is the most successful politician of her generation, who has led the SNP to election success after election success. As membership of the SNP soared — from 25,000 to more than 130,000 — she decided not to be fully frank with these enthusiastic new supporters.

Scottish politics has, for years now, had an outsized voice in the wider UK political conversation. The reason is simple: the prospect of Scottish ...

To put that in perspective, the last time they won a general election, in 2005, they won 41 seats in Scotland. How will the collective instincts of some of those Scots most committed to the cause of independence express themselves in selecting the next figurehead for the cause, and how will they take that argument to the persuadable but not convinced? A necessary, but not sufficient component in that is continuing to win elections and continuing to prove that Scottish public opinion remains, at the very least, split down the middle on the question of independence. And the SNP became and remain a significant player on the UK political stage: the third political party at Westminster and one with the potential to hold the balance of power in a hung parliament. And that - to state the obvious - matters massively in Scotland, but also everywhere else in the UK too. With the Scottish National Party running the Scottish government and holding the vast majority of Scottish seats at Westminster, the question of Scotland's constitutional future has remained live.

Their departures are a stark contrast to some recent male leaders who held on until they were forced out.

They have also shown that stereotypically “feminine” traits, and the “masculine” traits more traditionally associated with world leaders, do not have to be mutually exclusive. The idea that office is a duty, and that one should serve only as long as it is in the public interest to do so, is a concept lost on too many of our political elites. Instead, they have demonstrated a balanced approach to leadership that many of their counterparts would do well to follow. The total commitment and devotion to the job that each leader gave throughout her tenure took its toll, but it is harder for women to survive in public life without excelling at their job. The desire for renewal has now come full circle: we see women leaders seeking to avoid the staleness of their male predecessors by knowing when to quit. Seeing two leaders step back as soon as they felt that they were no longer the best person for the job, rather than waiting to be forced out, is a refreshing and inspiring change. Sturgeon is the first woman (and longest serving person) to hold the office of first minister of Scotland. But both still commanded the leadership of their party and the respect of their nation, and neither was under any imminent pressure to call it quits. Women’s growing presence in politics has been associated with political renewal – the replacement of the Ardern is the first leader of New Zealand (and second in the world, after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto) to give birth while in office. Two women known for their feminism and their candour were willing to acknowledge that it is not possible to fire on all cylinders forever, and that once burnout hits, it is time to let someone else have a turn. They are both women who have smashed through glass ceilings to reach the summit.

The first minister's record wasn't perfect, but her resignation speech made me rueful for what might have been, says journalist Dani Garavelli.

But while Sturgeon’s competence was established before she became first minister, her popularity was a product of timing; she rode into town on a post-referendum high. But the impulse to change the sexual harassment complaints process came from a place of principle; and she stuck to those principles despite the outpouring of vitriol and misogyny they unleashed. “And I cannot in good conscience ask the party to choose an option based on my judgment, whilst not being convinced that I would be there as leader to see it through,” she explained. I admire Sturgeon for not clinging too desperately to her dream of personally delivering independence. My service station sadness was part ruefulness for what might have been, part fear there was no one else capable of filling her shoes. Or resigning gracefully in the interests of his party and his country. Sturgeon changed all that, not merely by being a woman at the helm (after all, there have been two female prime ministers during her time in power), but by actively promoting gender equality. [Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/15/nicola-sturgeon-in-her-own-words-key-moments-resignation-speech) on Wednesday morning, I was hit by a wave of sadness. And if they had acknowledged the SNP’s overwhelming mandate for a second independence referendum, she would not now be facing criticism for failing to secure one. These are qualities absent in the five UK prime ministers who have been in office as she attempted to steer her ship through the choppy waters that their greed and populism created. Nor am I blind to the chequered nature of the first minister’s legacy. There were mistakes there, too, of course, most notably the release of

The first minister said it was time for her to step back - but what might be the reasons behind her surprise decision?

However, after eight years as first minister, seven more as deputy and a lifetime in politics, she did not deny during her resignation press conference that it had taken its toll. The country deserves nothing less. She said she believes that a new first minister might help people see more clearly that the SNP "is full of talented individuals" and demonstrate that no one individual should be dominant in any system for too long. The cause of independence is so much bigger than any one individual. But in truth that can only be done, by anyone, for so long. She said going for a coffee with friends or for a walk on her own was difficult and that there was an increased "brutality" to life as a politician. With no shortage of controversy during a long career - including the ferry scandal, the Holyrood inquiry into the handling of the Alex Salmond sexual harassment complaints, the gender reform debate and the independence debate - she said fixed opinions about her were being used as "barriers to reasoned debate". Ms Sturgeon insisted at the time that she still had "plenty left in the tank". Questions have mounted over a loan of more than £100,000 that Peter Murrell - the SNP's chief executive and Ms Sturgeon's husband - gave to the party in June 2021 to help it out with a "cash flow" issue after the last election. In recent weeks, Ms Sturgeon was quizzed on the origin of finances used by her husband but said the funds were entirely his own and she could not recall when she first learned of it. And she said standing aside would allow the party to come to a decision on the best way forward without having to consider the potential impact on her leadership. There are several factors that could have influenced her decision, with the first minister having to deal with tricky political situations on a number of fronts in recent weeks.

Support for independence doesn't depend on the departing SNP leader, but her successor will need a new plan.

The impact of the 2014 and 2016 referendums has been to create, for the first time, a potential pro-independence majority. In choosing a successor to Sturgeon, the SNP needs to consider how to balance its quest for independence with effectively delivering policy. But this plan was not supported by all in the SNP, so will need to be revisited with a new leader. If they are able to deliver successful policy that helps (or at least does not undermine) their aim to build support for independence, they could reinvigorate not just the party but also the wider independence movement. The high levels of support for Sturgeon and the SNP during the pandemic coincided with record levels of support for independence, Her personal popularity and her signficant role in her party’s recent success raises the question of whether her successor will be able to deliver the same growing enthusiasm for independence. Sturgeon leaves behind an SNP that is still by far the most popular party in Scotland. She also led the SNP in the cross party discussion which resulted in the Scotland Act of 2016. [independence](https://theconversation.com/scottish-independence-what-has-changed-since-the-last-referendum-185985) just after it lost a referendum on the subject. This granted Scotland more devolved powers over taxation and health, and was a win for the SNP, arguably taking Scotland a step closer to independence. Salmond led the SNP from the fringes to power and was often credited with its success, much as Sturgeon is now. The party had failed to achieve its cherished goal of

Editorial: Scotland's first minister has been a dominant political figure. But her resignation does not mean that independence is dead.

[independence referendum strategy](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/feb/16/snp-nicola-sturgeon-stephen-flynn-independence-plan-rethink) – the heart of what she and her party stand for – has run out of road. Her party is being investigated by police over financial transparency issues, including a £107,000 [loan](https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23303488.snp-loan-sturgeons-husband-led-multiple-rule-breaches/) from her husband. [Nicola Sturgeon’s](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/nicola-sturgeon) resignation is a massive political event. The result was a huge swing to the SNP. David Cameron misread the signs after the referendum in 2014. She would not have survived for 16 years at the summit of politics without both sets of abilities. More immediately, her domestic policies are also facing a concatenation of criticism. Ms Sturgeon has not resigned simply because she has had enough. The warning is best summed up in 10 plain words spoken by Scotland’s first minister in her surprise [announcement](https://www.snp.org/nicola-sturgeon-to-the-people-of-scotland-thank-you-from-the-bottom-of-my-heart/) in Edinburgh on Wednesday: “I am a human being as well as a politician.” If we are not careful, politics risks becoming the preserve of the wealthy, the corrupt, the brutal and the brazen. What Ms Sturgeon said on Wednesday is concerning and shaming. This is particularly true of women politicians, who still have to cope with intolerable attentions and pressures that men are often spared.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's most powerful political figure, announced her intention to resign as first minister, the head of the country's devolved ...

It faces elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament in a few months. [farewell speech](https://twitter.com/bbcscotlandnews/status/1625819813720252416) yesterday, Sturgeon described running out of energy. [announced](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/02/15/world/nicola-sturgeon-scotland-resigns) her intention to resign as first minister, the head of the country’s devolved administration. The drug death rate in Scotland is around [3.7 times](https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/drug-related-deaths/20/drug-related-deaths-20-annex-g.pdf) the rate in the U.K. A recent bid to force the issue ended with [defeat](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/scottish-independence-after-supreme-court-defeat-can-sturgeon-hold-new-2022-11-23/) in the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court, which found that a new referendum run only under Scotland’s devolved powers would be unconstitutional. Sturgeon’s party at Westminster had already seen a split when some of its members joined a new party led by Sturgeon’s immediate predecessor, Alex Salmond, who had become her hated rival in the intervening years. By this time, the public and the SNP were mutinous. The argument that most directly led to Sturgeon’s downfall was a social issue: self-identification and the legal changing of gender. [Europe](https://theferret.scot/ffs-explains-scottish-drug-deaths-compare-uk-eu/) as a whole. Sturgeon was a supreme communicator, and her public relations team—run out of the first minister’s official residence, Bute House—effectively outmuscled all Scottish opposition. Scotland is a less economically productive part of the U.K. Although the party was keen to dub local, regional, and national elections as “

The Scottish National party should consider “more evolutionary” constitutional change as an alternative to the “de facto” independence referendum proposed ...

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The leader and independence campaigner cited the "intensity" and "brutality" of modern politics as factors in her resignation.

Sturgeon said she wanted to spend more time in her role as an aunt, and noted the way in which her job took over every area of her life, especially in recent years. “And when that time came, to have the courage to do so, even if many across the country, and in my party, might feel it too soon. We give all that we can, for as long as we can, and then it’s time. “Since the very first moment in the job, I have believed that part of serving well would be to know, almost instinctively, when the time is right to make way for someone else,” she said at a news conference. And then play hundreds of other games in 4K with up to 120 frames per second. There was a time, not long ago, when the world roster of leaders suddenly looked much more gender-balanced than it ever had before, with Adern powering ahead, 37-year-old Sanna Marin taking over Finland’s leadership in 2019, several other woman running Nordic countries, and Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan, just to name a few.

When Alex Salmond quit after the independence referendum, there was little doubt about who would succeed him. Nicola Sturgeon was the obvious candidate and ...

The delay will allow the new leader a chance to help shape that debate. They did not get much warning that Nicola Sturgeon was about to quit and building a campaign team and assessing potential support within the party takes time. That is a widely perceived as an obstacle to a high profile MP like Joanna Cherry running but she has already ruled herself out. That's what Alex Salmond did in 2004 when the party was in opposition. Allowing a little space for reflection on Nicola Sturgeon's decision and her contribution to Scottish politics. The expectation is there will be one this time but so far there are no official candidates.

Scotland's independence movement needs a new leader — and a new plan. The resignation of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon leaves the decades-long campaign by ...

It needs a campaigning politician who can move the dial on the independence debate. Sturgeon took power in the wake of that defeat and tried to forge a path to a second vote. Her departure brought praise from Nancy Pelosi — who hailed her “strong, values-driven leadership” — and a jibe from Donald Trump, who bid “Good riddance to failed woke extremist Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland!” “The SNP needs more than just a competent first minister. Some in the party strongly support it, while others see it as a distraction from the party’s main goal: independence. Instead she unsuccessfully challenged the British government at the Supreme Court for the right to hold a new referendum. Sturgeon exits without fulfilling her dream of leading Scotland to independence, but leaves a large, and contested, legacy. as a whole backed leaving the European Union in a 2016 referendum, but voters in Scotland strongly favored remaining. He said that momentum could weaken even more if the opposition Labour Party wins the next U.K. Brexit looked like it might give her a chance: The U.K. in a 2014 referendum that was billed as a once-in-a-generation decision. [break the independence logjam](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/scotlands-leader-aims-for-independence-referendum-push-in-2023).