Nicola Sturgeon’s exit is a chance to leave independence politics behind
Nicola Sturgeon is a skilled politician, of this we can be in no doubt.
However she used those skills almost exclusively for the advancement of a single mission: Scottish Independence.
In the UK, there are politicians of different creeds and business leaders from across sectors working tirelessly to create opportunities where previously there were none, to bridge the gaps within London itself, and between London and the rest of the four nations.
Sturgeon did the opposite, and worked to drum up division in Scotland, to the detriment of the cohesiveness of the Union and to the nation she governed.
If we take her decision to stand down at face value – that she knew the time had come – it is a lesson many a leader in the political and corporate world can learn. Too many have clung on when it was well past their time.
But Sturgeon’s SNP changed the shape of the UK and we must now work to rebuild that, to reaffirm the United Kingdom and work with Scotland on ensuring their voice is heard in Westminster, rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water and trying to call, again, for a second referendum.
The argument pushed by Sturgeon that the Brexit vote undermined the earlier referendum ballot carries little water. Her inability to secure a meaningful sea change in the views of the Scottish people shows us that the polls are still divided and there is no clear majority who want to split up the Union.
Her decision to claim the next election would be a “de facto referendum” was made with an unbelievable disrespect for how our democratic institutions work.
As she steps down, the next time Scots cast ballots it must be to end the mission for independence, and instead decide to repair the seams torn apart by Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership.