Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon steps down after eight years at the helm

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced her resignation from the post on Wednesday (February 15). She steppeddown after leading the country for eight years.The Scottish National Party leader announced her departure at a news conference. In recent months, she had comeunder pressure over a stalled push towards independence and over transgender rights.

As she announced her resignation, Sturgeon said she knew the time was right to quit in "my head and in my heart". Sturgeon was pro-independence and anti-Brexit. In recent months she faced mounting pressure over her tactics for independence and transgender rights.

"This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment," Sturgeon said in a hastily arranged press conference, insisting her departure was "not a reaction to short-term pressures".

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"I know it may seem sudden, but I have been wrestling with it -- albeit with oscillating levels of intensity -- for some weeks."

She confirmed that she would remain first minister till the Scottish National Party elects a new leader. She vowed to keep pushing for Scottish independence.

Sturgeonsuffered a blow in November when the United Kingdom's top court ruled that the Scottish government could not hold a second referendum without approval from the British parliament.

Sturgeon said in response that she would turn the next British general election into a de facto referendum to ramp on pressure on Westminster to grant another vote.

Support for independence rose above 50% in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling but it has slipped back in recent months.

Sturgeon, 52, had also recently become embroiled in a row over transgender policies after Scotland passed a bill to make it easier for people to change their legal gender.

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The Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded by saying it would block the bill, the first time it had invoked the power to veto a Scottish law, because it would have a broader impact on the United Kingdom.

Scotland was then forced to review the management of trans prisoners and stop transgender people with a history of violence against women being placed in female prisons.

The Scottish government declined to comment.

Political allies immediately paid tribute to Sturgeon, with SNP MP Stewart McDonald describing her as "the finest public servant of the devolution age" and her departure as an "enormous loss".

"Her public service, personal resilience and commitment to Scotland is unmatched, and she has served our party unlike anyone else," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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