Nicola Sturgeon denies ‘short-term pressures’ behind resignation as Scottish first minister – UK politics live

1 year ago 67

Sturgeon says she has been 'wrestling' with resignation for 'some weeks'

The Scottish first minister has set out her reasons for resigning and was at pains to stress that it is not a reaction to “short-term pressures”.

Nicola Sturgeon admitted there were “difficult issues” confronting the government but said she has “plenty of experience to draw on” in “soldiering on when walking away would be the simpler option”.

She said:

This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment. I know it might seem sudden but I have been wrestling with it, albeit with oscillating levels of intensity, for some weeks.

Essentially I’ve been trying to answer two questions. Is carrying on right for me? And, more importantly, is me carrying on right for the country, for my party and for the independence cause I have devoted my life to?

I understand why some will automatically answer ‘yes’ to that second question but, in truth, I have been having to work harder in recent times to convince myself that the answer to either of them when examined deeply is yes and I’ve reached the conclusion that it’s not.

Key events

Speaking in Edinburgh, Nicola Sturgeon was asked how she had gone from having plenty in the tank three weeks ago to an empty tank today, and it was put to her that she did not mention the police investigation into the party’s finances during her resignation speech.

The outgoing first minister said:

These things are not the reason I’m standing here today.

These are not factors, nor will my decision today affect these things.

Nicola Sturgeon has indicated she will continue on the backbenches as an MSP at Holyrood.

She said in Scotland there are now “stronger protections for victims of domestic abuse, and parliament will soon consider legislation to improve access to justice for victims of rape and sexual offences”.

Sturgeon added:

I will be the strongest possible advocate for these reforms from the backbenches.

Sturgeon also said the “short-term” issue of the Scottish government’s gender reform legislation being blocked by Westminster was not behind her decision to resign.

The first minister, asked whether the gender identification row was the “straw that broke the camel’s back”, said:

No, that issue wasn’t the final straw. I’m long enough in the tooth, I’ve been in politics a long, long time.

I’m not going to stand here and insult your intelligence and say that I live in a world that is divorced from the reality of what is going on around me.

But it is not the case that this decision is because of short-term issues. I’ve faced more short-term issues from time to time in my years in politics than I care to remember.

And if it was just that, I wouldn’t be standing here today.

She concluded her resignation speech, saying:

So to the people of Scotland, to all of the people of Scotland, whether you’ve voted for me or not, please know that being your first minister has been the privilege of my life. Nothing, absolutely nothing I do in future will ever come anywhere close. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart.”

Sturgeon says she will not give an opinion on who she wants to succeed her as SNP leader.

Taking questions from reporters after announcing her intention to step down, she said:

This is a question that no matter how many times you ask it of me over the next few weeks, no matter how many inventive ways you find of asking it, I’m not going to say who my preference will be to succeed me.

What I do know is that the SNP is awash with talented individuals.

One of the things I’ve often reflected on is that when a political party, any political party in any country, has very dominant individuals, others – through no fault of the dominant individual, I should say, and often not through want of trying – become eclipsed.

So what I’m looking forward to, and I think the country will enjoy over these next few weeks, is seeing that talent and seeing that array of talent.

She added:

I believe I have led this country closer to independence, I believe we are in the final phase of that journey.

I believe that my successor, whoever he or she may be, will lead Scotland to independence, and I’ll be there cheering him or her on every step of the way.

Nicola Sturgeon has said “I intend to be there” when Scottish independence is won.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said:

Winning independence is the cause I have dedicated a lifetime to. It is a cause I believe in with every fibre of my being. And it is a cause I am convinced as being won.

I intend to be there as it is won, every step of the way.

She said that attending the funeral of a friend and “longstanding independence activist” solidified her decision, adding:

His funeral reminded me that the cause of independence is so much bigger than any one individual. That all of us who believe in it, contribute in different ways at different stages of our lives.

Since I was 16, I have contributed as an activist and campaigner and a leader. And so now as we look to what I firmly believe, is the final stage in Scotland’s journey to independence, albeit a hard one, I hope to use all the experience and perspective I’ve gathered over these years to help get us there.

Nicola Sturgeon said standing down as first minister would “free” the SNP to take a decision on how best to pursue independence “without worrying about the perceived implications for my leadership”.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said:

I feel that duty first and foremost to our country to ensure that it has the energy of leadership that it needs not just today but through the years that remain of this parliamentary term.

And right now, in a very particular sense, I feel that duty to my part too. We are at a critical moment. The blocking of our referendum as the accepted constitutional route to independence is a democratic outrage.

My preference of using the next Westminster election as a de facto referendum is well known.

But she added:

I have always been clear that decision must be taken by the SNP collectively, not by me alone, but I know my party well enough to understand that my view as leader would carry enormous, probably decisive, weight, when our conference meets next month.

And I cannot in good conscience ask the party to choose an option based on my judgment whilst not being convinced that I would be there as leader to see it through.

By making my decision clear now I free the SNP to choose the path it believes to be the right one without worrying about the perceived implications for my leadership.

Sturgeon discussed the polarising discourse experienced by staying as first minister so long.

She said:

I feel more and more each day now that the fixed opinions people increasingly have about me, some fair and others a little more than caricature, are being used as barriers to reason debate in our country.

Statements and decisions that should not be controversial at all quickly become so. Issues that are controversial end up almost irrationally so.

Too often I see issues presented as a result viewed, not on their own merits, but through the prism of what I think and what people think of me.

I’ve always been of the belief that no one individual should be dominant in any system for too long.

She added:

If all parties were to take the opportunity to depolarise public debate just a bit, to focus more on issues that on personalities, and to reset the tone and the tenor of our discourse, then this decision, right for me, and I believe my party and the country, may also prove good for politics.

Continuing her resignation speech, Nicola Sturgeon says being first minister and deputy first minister has been a “privilege”.

She said:

But they are also really hard and especially in the case of first minister relentlessly so.

Now to be clear, I’m not expecting violins here. But I am a human being as well as a politician.

She added:

My point is this, giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it. The country deserves nothing less.

But in truth that can only be done by anyone for so long. For me, it is now in danger of becoming too long.

A first minister is never off duty, particularly in this day and age there is virtually no privacy. Even ordinary stuff that most people take for granted like going for a coffee with friends or for a walk on your own becomes very difficult.

Nicola Sturgeon said she no longer felt she could give the job of first minister everything it deserved, and said she felt she had a duty to say so now.

Speaking in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said leading Scotland through the pandemic is “by far the toughest thing I’ve done”, adding the weight of responsibility was “immense”.

“It’s only very recently I think that I’ve started to comprehend, let alone process, the physical and mental impact of it on me.”

She went on:

If the only question was ‘can I battle on for another few months?’, then the answer is yes, of course I can.

But if the question is, ‘can I give this job everything it demands and deserves for another year, let alone for the remainder of this parliamentary term – give it every ounce of energy that it needs in the way that I have strived to do every day for the past eight years?’ – the answer honestly is different.

And as that is my decision, hard though it has been for me to reach it, then given the nature and scale of the challenges the country faces, I have a duty to say so now.

Nicola Sturgeon said there needed to be a new SNP leader to make the argument for Scottish independence.

The first minister told a press briefing her party was “firmly on course to win the next election, while our opponents remain adrift”.

She added:

The longer any leader is in office, the more opinions about them become fixed and very hard to change, and that matters.

Individual polls come and go, but I am firmly of the view that there is now majority support for independence in Scotland.

But that support needs to be solidified and it needs to grow further if our independent Scotland is to have the best possible foundation.

To achieve that, we must reach across the divide in Scottish politics and my judgment now is that a new leader would be better able to do this.

Someone whom the mind of almost everyone in the country is not already made up, for better or worse. Someone who is not subject to quite the same polarised opinions, fair or unfair, as I now am.

Nicola Sturgeon speaking during a press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh where she announced she will stand down as First Minister of Scotland.

Sturgeon says she has been 'wrestling' with resignation for 'some weeks'

The Scottish first minister has set out her reasons for resigning and was at pains to stress that it is not a reaction to “short-term pressures”.

She said:

This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment. I know it might seem sudden but I have been wrestling with it, albeit with oscillating levels of intensity, for some weeks.

Nicola Sturgeon says she knows the “time is now” for her to stand down as Scotland’s first minister, adding that it is “right for me, for my party and for the country”.

She said:

I know there will be some across the country who feel upset by this decision and by the fact I am taking it now.

Of course, for balance, there will be others who – how can I put this – will cope with the news just fine, such is the beauty of democracy.

But for those who do feel shocked, disappointed, perhaps even a bit angry with me, please be in no doubt this is really hard for me.

My decision comes from a place of duty and of love. Tough love perhaps but love nevertheless for my party and, above all, for the country.