Nicola Sturgeon unexpectedly quits as first minister of Scotland

The article reports that Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, has announced her resignation. Sturgeon has been the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) for more than a decade and has been First Minister of Scotland since 2014.

She has cited personal reasons for her resignation, including the need to focus on her family and personal life. Sturgeon’s departure is likely to trigger a leadership contest within the SNP, and it may have significant implications for the future of Scottish independence.

The article notes that Sturgeon’s resignation comes at a time when support for independence has been growing in Scotland, and the Scottish government has been pushing for another referendum on the issue.

Nicola Sturgeon, the figurehead of the Scottish independence movement, dramatically announced on Wednesday that she would resign after eight years as Scotland’s first minister.

The Scottish National Party leader made the announcement at a press conference in Edinburgh. She will stay in office until a new SNP leader is appointed.

Sturgeon said she knows the “time is now” for her to stand down, adding that it is “right for me, for my party and for the country.”

Sturgeon said she could no longer give her full energy to the job, and that she felt she must say so now. “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.

Sturgeon added that she hoped her successor would be “someone who is not subject to the same polarized opinions, fair or unfair, as I now am.”