Nicola Sturgeon took UK politics and her own party by surprise today as she quit as Scotland’s First Minister and Scottish National Party leader.
Ms Sturgeon announced her intention to resign at a press conference this morning, in a move which appears to have blindsided all but her closest aides.
SNP sources suggested that no-one apart from Ms Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell, who is also party chief executive, knew about it.
Meanwhile nationalist MPs today voiced their shock as discovering what was happening.
Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central and the party’s home affairs spokeswoman, said she was ‘gutted’, adding: ‘Nicola has been an incredible leader.’
Ms Sturgeon has become embroiled in increasing vitriolic rows regarding transgender prisoners and her plans to try to force through independence.
Support for independence is below the 45 per cent recorded in the 2014 referendum, according to the latest research for Lord Ashcroft
A Panelbase poll over the weekend found that 42 per cent want the SNP leader to stand down now, compared to 45 per cent who thought she should stay on until the next Holyrood election. Some 13 per cent were not sure
Ms Sturgeon has been First Minister since 2014, when she replaced Alex Salmond. But she has become embroiled in increasing vitriolic rows regarding transgender prisoners and her plans to try to force through independence.
It is not yet clear if she will stand down immediately, or continue in the role until a new SNP leader is elected.
Sources close to the First Minister said ‘she’s had enough’, just weeks after she told the BBC there was ‘plenty in the tank’.
They described it as a ‘Jacinda Ardern moment’, a reference to the New Zealand PM who suddenly quit early this year, adding that it was ‘better to leave before the ship sinks and you’re pushed’.
Her departure is likely to prove a huge boost to Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer, who needs Scottish seats to win the next election, and also the Tories, who have found Ms Sturgeon a powerful adversary, particularly during the Covid pandemic.
One Tory source said Starmer is ‘becoming a lucky general’ and could reap the rewards in Scotland at the next election. ‘It’s not hard to see how Labour take 10 or 15 seats off against a squabbling SNP and collapsing Conservatives as the only coherent Unionist force,’ they said.
Another Tory aide said: ‘Who knew the trans issue would break her.’
Stewart McDonald described Nicola Sturgeon as ‘the finest public servant of the devolution age’ amid reports of her expected departure as Scottish First Minister.
‘Nicola Sturgeon is the finest public servant of the devolution age,’ the MP for Glasgow South tweeted, sharing a photograph of himself with Ms Sturgeon.
‘Her public service, personal resilience and commitment to Scotland is unmatched, and she has served our party unlike anyone else. She will be an enormous loss as First Minister and SNP leader. Thank you!’
Read Related Also: Kevin Costner Has A Lesser-Known Music Career (& Can Be Heard In Yellowstone)
Ms Sturgeon will leave office as the longest serving and first female First Minister since the creation of the Scottish Parliament, a time which saw her lead the SNP to repeated election victories at UK, Scottish and local level.
But support for independence is currently below the 45 per cent recorded in the 2014 referendum, according to the latest research for Lord Ashcroft.
Meanwhile, the survey has laid bare the fallout from the SNP’s abortive attempt to loosen gender identity rules.
Some 54 per cent of Scots were against the shake-up – which was blocked by Westminster.
Worryingly for Ms Sturgeon, just 3 per cent listed it in their top three priorities facing the country – but 46 per cent thought it was in the SNP’s main concerns.
The findings come after a separate Panelbase poll published over the weekend suggested 42 per cent want Ms Sturgeon to stand down now.
Ms Sturgeon has vowed to make the next general election a ‘de facto’ referendum on Scottish independence, after the Supreme Court ruled that she cannot hold another national vote on the issue without approval from UK ministers.
However, the idea has been criticised by some in her own ranks, and the latest polling indicates that it does not have strong support from the public.
More than two-thirds agreed that people voted for parties at elections for a variety of reasons, and that could not be interpreted as support for independence.
Even among SNP backers, 48 per cent acknowledged an election could not be a de facto referendum, with 44 per cent saying it could be.
The First Minister is continuing to defend the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill passed by MSPs in December, despite growing disquiet in her own ranks.
Ms Sturgeon has been First Minister since 2014, when she replaced Alex Salmond.
The First Minister tried to avoid answering questions about Isla Byron, who was convicted of violent sex attacks on two women while a man called Adam Graham.
The shake-up would reduce the age limit for formally changing gender to 16, and remove the need for a medical diagnosis.
Ms Sturgeon has said she still intends to challenge the UK Government’s use of Section 35 to block the law.
Ms Sturgeon struggled at a press conference last week as she was repeatedly challenged on whether she regards trans rapist Isla Bryson as a woman.
Bryson was initially send to a women’s prison before being transferred to the male estate following an outcry.
