Nicola Sturgeon: SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister expected to resign

Nicola Sturgeon will stand down as First Minister of Scotland after eight years, the BBC has reported.

The First Minister will speak at a hastily-arranged press conference from her residence at Bute House in Edinburgh at 11am.

It is not yet clear if she will stand down immediately, or continue in the role until a new Scottish National Party (SNP) leader is elected, although reports indicate the latter.

BBC chief political correspondent Nick Eardley reported a source close to Ms Sturgeon saying: “She’s had enough.”

Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central and the party’s home affairs spokesperson, said she was “gutted” at news of Sturgeon’s impending resignation.

She tweeted: “Absolutely gutted about this. Nicola has been an incredible leader.”

Sturgeon took over the leadership of the SNP in November 2014, taking over from Alex Salmond after the unsuccessful referendum on Scottish independence earlier that year.

She has been a Scottish parliamentarian since 1999 and took up the deputy SNP leader role in 2004.

The next general election was set to be fought in Scotland as a ‘de facto’ independence referendum, Sturgeon had said.

It follows a series of setbacks, including the UK supreme court derailment of her plans for a fresh vote on the issue of Scottish independence, known as ‘IndyRef2’, as well as a row over transgender rapist Isla Bryson being jailed in a women’s prison.

More than 40 per cent of respondents to a survey for the Sunday Times this weekend said Sturgeon should stand down, while 45 per cent thought she should stay in post at least until the next Holyrood elections, which a Scottish Conservatives spokesman said branded the first minister “massively out of touch”.

Press Association