Nicola Sturgeon

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

Ms. Sturgeon, a longtime champion of Scottish independence, has been first minister since 2014.

Ms. “She regards herself as a woman,” a visibly frustrated Ms. Sturgeon and Ms. Sturgeon later announced that Ms. During her resignation speech on Wednesday, Ms. That prompted a crisis in Britain’s power-sharing system, known as devolution, with Ms. In their resignation speeches, Ms. “To talk of tomorrow as ‘Freedom Day’ is not sensible,” Ms. A former finance secretary, Ms. In her surprise announcement, Ms. Even from the sidelines of Scottish politics, Ms. “Being your first minister has been the privilege of my life,” Ms.

Nicola Sturgeon, the face of the Scottish independence movement for eight years, announces her intention to step down as Scotland's first minister.

The party is set to hold a conference on the strategy next month, with some members saying it won’t work and others criticizing Sturgeon for waiting too long to press ahead. “If the question is can I battle on for another few months, then the answer is yes, of course I can,” she said. The inmate was transferred to a men’s prison after being assessed by prison authorities. Sturgeon said she had been “wrestling” with whether it was time step down for a number of weeks. Scotland is part of the U.K., but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, it has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas such as healthcare. That raised concerns that Sturgeon’s position on transgender rights could undermine support for Scottish independence, the SNP’s overarching goal. Sturgeon, 52, has led Scotland since 2014, when Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. “In my head and in my heart I know that time is now,” she told reporters. The central government in London has Some members of the SNP have criticized Sturgeon for saying she would make the next Scottish parliament election a de facto referendum on independence after the central government in London refused to sanction a new vote on dissolving Scotland’s union with the rest of the U.K. Rowling,’ saying she ‘never set out to upset anyone.’ ‘Harry Potter’ author J.K.

Sturgeon has been in office for eight years, making her the country's longest-serving first minister, and has spent her political career pushing Scottish ...

YouGov, the pollster, says that for most of her leadership, the majority of Scots said that she Sturgeon said the next leader “must to reach across the divide in Scottish politics, and my judgment now is that a new leader would be better able to do this. Her public service, personal resilience and commitment to Scotland is unmatched, and she has served our party unlike anyone else.” She said that since the new year, she has been struggling with the decision. Sturgeon is one of the most formidable politicians of her generation. She and her party have also been fighting over the direction of the independence movement. But I am firmly of the view that there is now majority support for independence. But that support needs to be solidified — and it needs to grow further if our independent Scotland is to have the best possible foundation.” “I believe that part of serving well would be to know, almost instinctively, when the time is right to make way for someone else,” she said. LONDON — Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of Scotland and a relentless advocate for Scottish independence, announced her surprise resignation on Wednesday, saying she no longer felt she could give the job her all. Everyone human being every day wrestles with a whole lot of conflicting emotions.” She has recently faced head winds, but no career-ending scandal.

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.

The surprise resignation of Scotland's First Minister raises questions about the future of the SNP as well as Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party.

But Sturgeon made clear that while she’s stepped down from the leadership, she’ll remain a lawmaker and champion of the issues closest to her, including independence. The Labour Party, rather than the Conservatives, would be the likely beneficiary of any electoral weakening of the SNP, though hopes of 24 seats at the next election to help put Keir Starmer in Downing Street is still a big ask for a party that was all but wiped out after dominating Scottish politics from the mid-1960s until 2010. The following year, the SNP won a record number of seats in the elections for Holyrood , Scotland’s Parliament. In the 2015 general election, the SNP took 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland. Sturgeon seemed to relish the fight with the British government, which blocked the bill, but found herself struggling to defend her position after transgender prisoner Isla Bryson, who was convicted of raping two women while still a man, had been housed in an all-female prison before being moved. With voters rating health care as one of their top concerns, even the SNP’s own supporters are increasingly likely to doubt the party’s management.

The departure makes her the second high-profile female leader in the world to announce a resignation in recent weeks. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ...

- "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. - In her announcement, made from her official residence in Edinburgh, Sturgeon stressed that her decision was not made due to "short-term issues" but rather that she had been "wrestling" with the move for several weeks.

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 ...

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.

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.

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.

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.

Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is resigning. Throughout her rule, she has been famed as a savvy political operator — yet her strategy has ...

All those determined to halt the miserable decline of Scottish society, must repudiate the myth of her enlightened leadership. She leaves office with her own approval ratings dipping, and with support for independence on the slide. Loyal politicians jumped on transatlantic anti-Russia sentiment after the election of Donald Trump and warned of Russian meddling in Scottish affairs, and specifically in the independence movement. A forthcoming emergency SNP conference to debate Sturgeon’s plan for a “de facto” referendum, which would see the party stand on an independence ticket without any other manifesto at the next general election, looked set to break the long-standing tradition of stage-managed conferences with predetermined outcomes. She ignored protests outside the door of her official residence in Edinburgh — but did fly to London to take part in the British establishment “People’s Vote” movement to overturn the 2016 Brexit referendum. This sent a signal: there was to be no challenge to her leadership, especially from the Left of the independence movement. The years between 2016 and the COVID-19 pandemic saw dozens of major demonstrations all over Scotland, many in the tens of thousands, demanding the right to self-determination against an intransigent Westminster. Defeat proved a boon for the SNP, which experienced a surge in members and voters, clearing a path for Sturgeon’s dramatic rise to power. But even at her peak in late 2014, Sturgeon’s deep ambiguity to the independence movement was on show. The 2008 financial crisis and the rise of David Cameron’s austerian Tories completed the effect, and the SNP won a majority of seats at the 2011 Scottish elections, mandating an independence referendum. Sturgeon’s ascent to the peak of Scottish politics in 2014 was driven by that year’s independence movement. Her exit, after months of mounting difficulties, threatens the complacency of Scottish institutions at a time of hardship for millions, as the economy shrinks and working-class incomes tumble.

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.

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.

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 “

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).