Nicola Sturgeon announced on Wednesday that she is resigning as Scotland’s first minister, noting that she will remain in office until a new Scottish National Party (SNP) leader is appointed.
After more than after years in the role, Sturgeon highlighted that the “time is now” for her to stand down, adding that it is “right for me, for my party and for the country.”
“First, though I know it will be tempting to see it as such, this decision is not a reaction to short-term pressures,” Sturgeon mentioned.
The official has been facing rising tensions with the UK government in London over Scottish independence. She also had to deal with Westminster’s decision to block a Scottish law intended to allow trans people in Scotland to change their legal gender without a medical diagnosis.
“This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment,” Sturgeon added.
The Prime Minister affirmed that she could no longer give her full energy to the job.
“I have been wrestling with it, albeit with oscillating levels of intensity for some weeks,” the 52-year-old leader said. “Giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it.”
She said it was difficult to have a private life, noting it was hard to “meet friends for a coffee or go for a walk on your own” and observed that there was a “brutality” to life at the top.
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