Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2014 to 2023and leader of the Scottish National Party. She is the first woman to hold any of these positions. She has been a member of the Scottish Parliament since 1999.
Part of serving well is knowing when to make way for someone else, Ms Sturgon said during a press conference at her official residence in Edinburgh on Wednesday. She has confirmed her resigning as Scotland First Minister after more than eight years. She is the longest-serving minister in Scotland.
She told “In my head and in my heart I know that time is now”. She added “That it’s right for me, for my party and my country.”
In 2014 when Scots voted to remain part of the United Kingdom, since then she has led Scotland. While the referendum was build as a once-in-a-generation decision on independence, Ms Sturgon and her Scottish National Party pushed for a new vote, arguing that Britain’s departure from the EU would the Rules were changed. The U.K Government has refused to allow a second referendum. Scotland’s first female leader said she had wrestled with the decision to leave, and it was not a reaction to short-term pressures.
She also said “Of course there are difficult issues confronting the government just now, but when is that ever not the case?”
The announcement surprised political observers amid her staunch support for both independence and her law, which would make it easier for people in Scotland to legally change gender. Hailed as a milestone by transgender rights activists, the bill will allow people aged 16 or over in Scotland to change their gender designation on identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
while the Scottish Parliament approved the law, it has been blocked by the British government because it would present problem for authorities in the other parts of the U.K, where individuals need a medical diagnosis before being infected for legal purposes.
Scotland First Minister Ms. Sturgeon has vowed to take the British government to court, arguing that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s administration had made a ‘profound mistake’ by vetoing the legislation. A few of the SNP is criticizing her for saying she would make the next Scottish Parliament election a de facto referendum.
