Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday announced her resignation as Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National party after a backlash over her strategy for securing independence and controversy over proposed transgender laws.
Sturgeon has been a thorn in the side of UK prime ministers for almost a decade as she pushed to end Scotland’s more than 300-year union with England.
She led the pro-independence SNP to repeated electoral success even as political opponents highlighted failures by her Scottish government to fulfil key pledges to improve education and the NHS.
Sturgeon, 52, who has led the SNP since 2014, told a press conference that giving everything to the “best job in the world” was the only way, and that the intensity required could only be maintained for so long.
She said she had been struggling with her decision about whether to carry on with her “relentlessly” difficult job for a number of weeks, and concluded that her time as first minister and SNP leader was “now in danger of becoming too long”.
“There is a much greater intensity, dare I say brutality, to life as a politician than in years gone by . . . It takes its toll on you and on those around you,” said Sturgeon.
She declined to name a preferred successor as SNP leader and first minister.
Analysts have identified Kate Forbes, the Scottish finance secretary who is currently on parental leave, as a potential replacement, while bookmakers made Angus Robertson, constitution secretary, the early favourite.
Other possible successors include John Swinney, deputy first minister, Humza Yousaf, health secretary, Keith Brown, justice secretary, and Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster.
Sturgeon took over from Alex Salmond as first minister and SNP leader after the Scottish government he led failed to win a referendum on independence in 2014.
She was the first woman to be first minister, and acknowledged that she had become a polarising figure in Scotland, which she said often stood in the way of rational debate.
But Sturgeon said her decision to step down was “not a reaction to short-term pressures”.
Her authority as SNP leader was weakened after some of her own MPs questioned her plan to use the next UK general election as a “de facto” referendum on independence.
She took this stance after the UK government led by the then prime minister Boris Johnson repeatedly refused to authorise another independence referendum.
Some SNP MPs feared that turning the next UK general election into a single-issue vote would hurt the party at the ballot box.
Sturgeon relented and the SNP is due to hold a special conference next month when other options on securing an independence referendum will be discussed.
Sturgeon said she did not believe it would be right for the party to choose an option based on her personal preference, given she was not convinced she would have the energy to see it through.
Some SNP insiders also accused Sturgeon of failing to make a strong and sustained case for independence, amid opinion polls suggesting Scots are evenly divided over whether their country should leave the UK. Scots in 2014 voted to remain part of the UK by 55 per cent to 45 per cent.
And Sturgeon saw her hitherto strong grip on the SNP loosened by her stance on transgender rights.
Scottish government legislation to reduce the age at which people can obtain a gender recognition certificate to 16 was opposed by some SNP members of the Edinburgh parliament, and later blocked by UK prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Sturgeon said she planned to stay in office until the SNP chooses a successor. She will remain a member of the Scottish parliament until an election due in 2026. The UK general election must be held by January 2025.
Salmond, who formed the breakaway Alba party after falling out with Sturgeon, said she left office with “no clear strategy for independence”.
Her strategy of making the next UK general election a “de facto” referendum on independence was “at best, up in the air”.
Sunak said he would continue to work closely with the Scottish government, adding: “My thanks go to Nicola Sturgeon for her longstanding service.”