On Wednesday, Scottish government leader Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation after eight years.
She claimed her choice came “from a place of duty and of love,” not from short-term demands. After convicted rapist Isla Bryson was imprisoned in a women’s jail, she became involved in a fight over the Scottish government’s gender self-declaration policy.
“This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment,” she said during an Edinburgh news conference. “I realize it looks sudden, but I have been fighting with it, with alternating intensities, for several weeks.”
She promised to stay till her replacement is appointed.
The Scottish National Party, Ms. Sturgeon’s party, remains the dominant political force in Scotland, but her departure comes amid a gender policy controversy and debate inside the party about a second referendum on Scottish independence. Ms. Sturgeon has led the party’s independence campaign since its foundation.
After Scottish voters rejected independence in a referendum, Ms. Sturgeon became Scotland’s longest-serving first minister in 2014.
Ms. Sturgeon told BBC last month that she had “enough in the tank” to lead Scotland and was “nowhere near ready” to resign.
Since joining the pro-independence Scottish National Party at 16, Ms. Sturgeon has sought as much power for Scotland as possible. Last year, she revealed plans for a second Scottish independence referendum in October 2023, reviving the subject of whether Scotland will split from Britain.
