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Nicola Sturgeon, who has been the longest serving first minister of Scotland, announced her plans to resign on Wednesday, standing down without an obvious successor in place and dealing a blow to the fight for independence.
Sturgeon, 52, said she would stay on until the Scottish National Party (SNP) had completed the process of finding a replacement.
“In my head and in my heart, I know the time is now, which is right for me, for my party and my country,” he said at a press conference in Edinburgh.
Sturgeon became SNP leader after the 2014 independence referendum in which the country voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent to remain part of the UK, leading to the departure of predecessor Alex Salmond.
He led the party to great success in the 2015 UK election, winning 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats and becoming the UK’s third largest party, before he retained control of the devolved parliament in more recent elections.
But he has recently become involved with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s London government, and some of his own voters, over the gender recognition bill, and London has blocked the way to another independence referendum.
Sturgeon said she had wrestled with the decision with “oscillating levels of intensity” for several weeks and denied it was a “reaction to short-term pressure” and a battle over the position.
Fight on freedom, transgender wisdom
Sturgeon said the weight of decision-making affecting citizens’ lives and liberties during the pandemic had led to a cumulative toll, citing the “intensity and brutality” of reactions to government policies in the age of social media.
“I am a human being as well as a politician,” he said.
Sturgeon said it was time voters heard a new voice.
“Very often I look at the problems presented, and as a result look at them, not based on their own merits, but through the prism of what I think and what people think about me,” he said.
The SNP suffered a blow in November when the UK’s top court ruled that the Scottish government could not hold a second referendum without the consent of the UK Parliament.
The ongoing Conservative government in London says the 2014 referendum is a once-in-a-generation decision and cannot be repeated.
Sturgeon said she would turn the next UK general election into a de facto referendum to increase pressure on London to deliver another vote.
“There is almost a vacuum that will come after him, because there is no clear and obvious successor at the moment,” Anthony Wells, head of European Political and Social Research at YouGov UK, told Reuters.
He said Sturgeon’s power at the top of the party contained internal disputes over the way forward: “Without someone with their hands on the tiller, I think it’s going to be a bit chaotic.”
According to opinion polls, support for independence rose to more than 50 percent after the Supreme Court defeat, but has since retreated.
Sturgeon said Wednesday that she believed in the fight for freedom with “every fiber of my being” and vowed to continue championing that cause.
In recent months, Sturgeon became embroiled in a row over transgender policy after Scotland passed a bill to make it easier for people to change their legal gender.
The Sunak government has said it will block the bill because it could affect laws in other countries in the UK.
The decision by Sturgeon surprised political observers, despite the controversy surrounding the gender recognition measure.
The row has put a spotlight on the treatment of transgender people in Scottish prisons, with Sturgeon facing tough questions after a transgender woman convicted of rape was placed in an all-female prison for the first time.
Scotland has since said it will review its management of transgender prisoners.
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