Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation on Wednesday February 15, after eight years in power. Mme Sturgeon, 52, gave a statement to the press at midday, in which she said she would stay on until someone was elected from the Scottish National Party (SNP) for him succeed.
Describing its functions as ” a privilege ” And “the best job in the world”Mme Sturgeon argued that his choice was not motivated by “recent pressures” – thus denying any link with the controversy surrounding the law facilitating gender transition – but through a reflection “deep” on the ” long term “.
“I know the time has come”she said, adding that her choice was the right one, not only for her, but for ” [son] left “, ” [son] country “ and for the independence cause, which she defended throughout her mandate. In January, following the surprise resignation of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Ms.me Sturgeon nevertheless assured that she still had ” full of energy “ and that she did not feel “not at all close” when she should go.
Weakened by controversy
A convinced independentist, the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) has been in office at the head of the British territory since 2014. Her fight for a new independence referendum has allowed her to remain popular with the Scots for a long time. But the leader was weakened by the adoption in December of a very controversial law facilitating gender transition, permitted from the age of 16 and without medical advice. A controversy surrounding the transfer of a transgender prisoner convicted of two rapes to a women’s prison has also damaged the image of the leader and her party.
The first woman to rule Scotland, a British leader with unprecedented longevity, Ms.me Sturgeon clarified “not quit politics”adding that many causes are still close to his heart.
Born in the industrial town of Irvine, south-west of Glasgow, to an electrician father and a nurse mother, still active in politics, Nicola Sturgeon joined the SNP aged 16 as a Assistant Youth Coordinator.
Peter Murrell, her husband, is the party’s chief executive. The couple, childless, met more than twenty years ago at a meeting of SNP youth, of which Nicola Sturgeon became one of the first representatives in the Scottish Parliament when it was created, in 1999.
