Explainer: Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP, has “had enough” and will step down once her replacement is elected.
She said this morning: “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 for someone else, and when the time came, to have the courage to do so.
“In my head, and in my heart, I know that time is now.”
Love her or loathe her, Sturgeon has made a significant mark on UK politics, even if it isn’t for the reason she wanted.
The soon-to-be former First Minister has gone head-to-head with Westminster over and over again, the latest row focusing on law changes in Scotland to gender recognition requirements. It melded two increasingly toxic issues – the debate around trans people’s rights in the UK and their ability to change their gender and devolution.
The laws support by a majority of MSPs in Holyrood, but the Scottish Secretary Alister Jack knocked them back by claiming they conflicting with anti-discrimination rules in the UK.
Sturgeon stressed her decision to step down “was not a response to short term pressure”, alluding to the rows of gender rules in Scotland.
Sturgeon also pegged the next general election as a “de facto referendum” on Scottish Independence after losing a Supreme Court case against the government to bring in her own ballot on breaking away from the United Kingdom.
During the pandemic, she was lauded as a skilfully communicator and was able to build up a significant personality cult away from the fight over independence.
But her record has also been tarnished by claims she has allowed the education and health system, for which Holyrood has devolved control over, to fall behind.
Her resignation has the possibility to shake up the electoral map in the UK and potentially clear the way for a Labour majority government at the next election.
Scotland has always been a thorn in Labour side, after they lost all but one seat north of the border.
A host of seats, especially those in Glasgow, will now be in play and up for grabs if Keir Starmer can convince Scottish voters to side with him.
Previously, winning those seats might’ve required Starmer to compromise on his hard-line unionist position, something he has repeatedly said he won’t budge on.
But a number of urban voters support Sturgeon as a politician, rather than as a symbol of the independence movement.