Nicola Sturgeon: SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister expected to resign
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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 Scottish National Party (SNP) leader is elected, although reports indicate the latter.
BBC chief political correspondent Nick Eardley reported a source close to Ms Sturgeon saying: “She’s had enough.”
Alison Thewliss, SNP MP for Glasgow Central and the party’s home affairs spokesperson, said she was “gutted” at news of Sturgeon’s impending resignation.
She tweeted: “Absolutely gutted about this. Nicola has been an incredible leader.”
![First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Holds NHS Press Conference](https://www.cityam.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1246277456.jpg?w=960)
Sturgeon took over the leadership of the SNP in November 2014, taking over from Alex Salmond after the unsuccessful referendum on Scottish independence earlier that year.
She has been a Scottish parliamentarian since 1999 and took up the deputy SNP leader role in 2004.
The next general election was set to be fought in Scotland as a ‘de facto’ independence referendum, Sturgeon had said.
It follows a series of setbacks, including the UK supreme court derailment of her plans for a fresh vote on the issue of Scottish independence, known as ‘IndyRef2’, as well as a row over transgender rapist Isla Bryson being jailed in a women’s prison.
More than 40 per cent of respondents to a survey for the Sunday Times this weekend said Sturgeon should stand down, while 45 per cent thought she should stay in post at least until the next Holyrood elections, which a Scottish Conservatives spokesman said branded the first minister “massively out of touch”.
Press Association