Nicola Sturgeon to resign as Scottish First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon will stand down as First Minister of Scotland after eight years, the BBC has reported.
The First Minister will speak at a hastily arranged press conference from her residence at Bute House in Edinburgh at 11am.
It is not yet clear if she will stand down immediately, or continue in the role until a new SNP leader is elected.
BBC chief political correspondent Nick Eardley reported a source close to Ms Sturgeon saying: “She’s had enough.”
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.
Controversy
The First Minister, however, has been mired in controversy in recent months as her Government sought to push through gender reforms, only for them to be blocked by the UK Government.
And recent weeks have seen her forced to deal with the housing of transgender prisoners in women’s facilities.
Rising to power unopposed after the ill-fated independence referendum in 2014, Nicola Sturgeon took over from Alex Salmond, the mentor with whom she would come into conflict in the years to come over the handling of sexual harassment allegations made against him.
But the First Minister stands down without realising her key political mission – independence for Scotland.
Her party will meet next month to discuss the holding of treating the next UK election as a “de facto referendum”, with more than 50% of the vote being considered a mandate to begin negotiations for Scotland to become an independent country.
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Transpeople are being used as a political weapon by the far-right (and I include the Tories and a lot of Starmner’s Labour under that) to burn whoever they feel is a threat to their grasp on power. Make no mistake transpeople in Scotland are being used by The English Establishment System to attack democracy in Scotland and undermine devolution across the whole archipelago.
RESIST THE HATRED OF THE FAR FAR RIGHT
Similar tactics have been used to try and undermine Yes Cymru.
The SNP shouldn’ have touched trans ideology with a bargepole, and neither should PC or YesCymru. It’s so divisive and toxic.
There is no such thing as a trans ideology. I am trans and transitioned long before trans issues became such a public issue. 99% of the people involved in the public debate about trans people are not trans. That is who is responsible for the divisive and toxic nature of it. Most trans people are just trying to live their lives.
Those far right people that you detest probably include a number of blokes who like dressing up in girlie gear. Not a good look really but it just tells us that they are confused.
Typical far left tactic – if anyone expresses a justifiable concern or the least misgiving about a male rapist declaring himself to be a woman in order to gain access to more women to rape, then you just dismiss them as far right or fascist.
I don’t think it’s a matter of left or right – the existence of gaping loopholes in the way the justice/legal processes were meant to deal with criminals who embrace gender switching was of concern to most people. As a somewhat left of centre person I suspect that there are more right leaning blokes than lefties engaging in deviant gender blurring activities.
It’s the left that have turned it into a left – right issue. If you disagree with them you’re written off as far right or fascist. And I used to regard myself as left wing, but I’m done with them.
I am trans. I support independence. But Sturgeon was also using trans people as a political weapon. She did it as a means of pushing constitutional reform on Westminster, and Westminster then returned the act.
As a trans person, I can tell you that everyone uses trans people as a political weapon, whether they are on the left or the right.
Most trans people just want to live their lives, without being the subject of such political debate.
The truth will set you free.
This may set back Scottish independence a little, as Nicola Sturgeon is popular. Though I don’t think it will stop the Scots gaining independence in the future, just delay it. Unless there are major reforms in Westminster, meaning a total change of mind-set, to increase equality, by governments there – the UK will not exist in the very near future. Independence will see a more equal British Isles.
FUUUU-
It is also rumoured that Police Scotland has finally been given permission to begin formally interviewing a number of SNP and ex-SNP figures about the missing £600,000 of fundraiser money, and the bizarre loan to the party by its CEO Peter Murrell’s( the husband of Nicola) which is thought to be related to it.
Scottish Nationalism will slowly become less leftist after Sturgeon goes, over a decade. After that Welsh Nationalism may begin to grow past solidarity badges and 1970’s cultural revolution fist poster imagery. Still, Sturgeon in icon.
A sad day for the Independence movement in Cymru and Scotland. In my opinion in all of the televised UK general election leadership debates since she has been SNP Leader, Nicola Sturgeon has been head and shoulders above the rest. Her successor has a very tough act to follow.
One could be unkind and say that she didn’t need to be that good to eclipse the others since 2015! She stood out as a passionate articulate and well briefed speaker who seemed for a long time very unlikely to put a foot wrong. Why then did she give such prominence or priority to the flawed gender recognition campaign and its eventual piece of legislation? That issue could have been managed far better, or perhaps transitioned is a more appropriate term, leading to far less noise and hysteria and a more settled outcome to suit those genuine cases who need… Read more »