Scottish first minister and Scottish National party leader Nicola Sturgeon resigned

Scottish first minister and Scottish National party leader Nicola Sturgeon has resigned, signalling the end of a political era. It has triggered the SNP’s first leadership election campaign in nearly 20 years. She was crowned party leader in 2014 without a contest.

Sturgeon said she was clear that this was the right time to go. She added she was drained by the unrelenting and unforgiving pressures of modern politics. She said it was impossible to live a normal life.

Sturgeon insisted that after more than 20 years in frontline politics, she had not been swayed by the latest crises over transgender rights, Accident and Emergency (A&E) waiting times, the rolling strikes that have closed



every Scottish school, the fury of nurses over their pay offer, or even, a police investigation into her husband’s private loan of £ 107,000 to the SNP. Her husband is Peter Murrell, the party’s chief executive.

The next Holyrood election, a vote that is of singular significance for the SNP, given it is for Scotland’s national parliament, is more than three years away.

Sturgeon has championed many defining policies for Holyrood and the SNP, tackling child poverty through free preschool hours, free school meals and a £20 weekly welfare payment. It shifted the burden of Scotland’s taxes on the wealthy and widened access to universities.