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Nicola Sturgeon Announces Resignation as Scottish First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon Announces Resignation as Scottish First Minister
Sputnik International
Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has been beset by a series of scandals in recent weeks, especially the jailing of a rapist who now identifies as a woman a month after her party passed new gender legislation.
2023-02-15T10:02+0000
2023-02-15T10:02+0000
2023-05-28T15:25+0000
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Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced her resignation following a series of policy fiascos.The leader of the separatist Scottish national Party (SNP), made the announcement at her official residence of Bute House in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, saying that she had always anticipated making way for a new leader.But recent polls showed support for Scottish independence, the SNP's key policy, had slumped from over 50 per cent to below 40 per cent since early January — when Sturgeon vowed she would lead Scotland out of the union with the UK. That decline came after the SNP pushed the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill through the devolved Scottish parliament in December — just a month before transgender double rapist Isla Bryson, known as Adam Graham before he went on trial, was convicted and sent to a women's jail.The bill, which goes much further than existing UK law, would allow people as young as 16 to gain legal recognition as members of the opposite sex after just three months living under their new identity, without the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria — effectively allowing any man access to female-only spaces.The SNP and its coalition partner the Scottish Greens voted down an amendment proposed by the Scottish Conservatives to prevent convicted sex offenders form obtaining the gender recognition certificate.That blew up in the devolved government's face following Bryson's conviction, forcing Sturgeon to make an embarrassing U-turn on her party's policy of accepting all claims to transgender or non-binary identity.Hot on the heels of the Bryson scandal came the arrest and charging of Andrew Miller, a transgender former butcher from the Scottish Borders region, for abducting an 11-year-old girl.She refused to answer a journalist's question on who she thought would "lead Scotland to independence" after her exit.Media commentators said the SNP would struggle to find a replacement for Sturgeon, who purged her successful predecessor Alex Salmond from the party through a failed disciplinary for sexual misconduct followed by a criminal prosecution for rape, which resulted in acquittal.Salmond then formed rival nationalist party Alba with other SNP figures dissatisfied with Sturgeon's factionalism.String of DisastersOther Scottish government farragoes included the ongoing scandal at state-owned CalMac Ferries, where a £97 million order for two ships from Ferguson Marine, a shipyard nationalised by the devolved government, ran £150 million over budget and years over schedule.More recently, small Scottish brewers have expressed fears that they will be put out of business by Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater's pet project of a deposit return scheme for recycling bottles and cans, which would add 20p to retail prices.And last week the devolved administration admitted in the Holyrood parliament that the project to widen the A9 main road between Perth and Inverness to two lanes each way by 2025 had been halted, and the contract put out to tender again.Sturgeon was also under fire for spending taxpayer's money on legal challenges to the UK government. The first is over Downing Street's denial of a re-run of the 2014 independence referendum, which the Yes campaign lost by a 10-point margin, which the SNP has demanded on the pretext of Britain's exit from the EU.Sturgeon vowed a second lawsuit against the government's decision to block the GRR bill from gaining royal assent and becoming law, on the basis that it would have serious repercussions for equalities law across the UK.
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Nicola Sturgeon Announces Resignation as Scottish First Minister
10:02 GMT 15.02.2023 (Updated: 15:25 GMT 28.05.2023) Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon has been beset by a series of scandals in recent weeks, especially the jailing of a rapist who now identifies as a woman a month after her party passed controversial gender recognition legislation.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced her resignation following a series of policy fiascos.
The leader of the separatist Scottish national Party (SNP), made the announcement at her official residence of Bute House in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning, saying that she had always anticipated making way for a new leader.
"In my head and my heart I know that time is now," Sturgeon said, insisting that "this is not a reaction to short-term pressures."
But recent polls showed support for Scottish independence, the SNP's key policy, had slumped from over 50 per cent to below 40 per cent since early January — when Sturgeon vowed she would lead Scotland out of the union with the UK.
That decline came after the SNP pushed the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) bill through the devolved Scottish parliament in December — just a month before transgender double rapist Isla Bryson, known as Adam Graham before he went on trial, was convicted and sent to a women's jail.
The bill, which goes much further than existing UK law, would allow people as young as 16 to gain legal recognition as members of the opposite sex after just three months living under their new identity, without the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria — effectively allowing any man access to female-only spaces.
The SNP and its coalition partner the Scottish Greens voted down an amendment proposed by the Scottish Conservatives to prevent convicted sex offenders form obtaining the gender recognition certificate.
That blew up in the devolved government's face following Bryson's conviction, forcing Sturgeon to make an embarrassing
U-turn on her party's policy of accepting all claims to
transgender or non-binary identity.
Hot on the heels of the Bryson scandal came the arrest and charging of
Andrew Miller, a transgender former butcher from the Scottish Borders region, for abducting an 11-year-old girl.
Sturgeon said she would continue as leader until her replacement was chosen, insisting her party was "full of talented individuals who are more than up to that task."
She refused to answer a journalist's question on who she thought would "lead Scotland to independence" after her exit.
Media commentators said the SNP would struggle to find a replacement for Sturgeon, who purged her successful predecessor Alex Salmond from the party through a failed disciplinary for sexual misconduct followed by a criminal prosecution for rape, which resulted in acquittal.
Salmond then formed rival nationalist party Alba with other SNP figures dissatisfied with Sturgeon's factionalism.
6 February 2023, 15:52 GMT
Other Scottish government farragoes included the ongoing scandal at state-owned CalMac Ferries, where a £97 million order for two ships from Ferguson Marine, a shipyard nationalised by the devolved government, ran £150 million over budget and years over schedule.
More recently, small Scottish brewers have expressed fears that they will be put out of business by Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater's pet project of a deposit return scheme for recycling bottles and cans, which would add 20p to retail prices.
And last week the devolved administration admitted in the Holyrood parliament that the project to widen the A9 main road between Perth and Inverness to two lanes each way by 2025 had been halted, and the contract put out to tender again.
Sturgeon was also under fire for spending taxpayer's money on legal challenges to the UK government. The first is over Downing Street's denial of a re-run of the 2014 independence referendum, which the Yes campaign lost by a 10-point margin, which the SNP has demanded on the pretext of Britain's exit from the EU.
Sturgeon vowed a second lawsuit against the government's decision to
block the GRR bill from gaining royal assent and becoming law, on the basis that it would have serious repercussions for equalities law across the UK.
