Bolt from the blue as Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon resigns - read her statement

In a bolt from the blue, Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has resigned in a statement in Edinburgh. 

Polling expert professor Sir John Curtice from Strathclyde University told the BBC there "isn't an obvious successor" for her, who he says is currently the SNP's most effective communicator.

He said she is "far and away the most popular leader" in Scotland, though her popularity is as low as it has been during her tenure.

Transcript of her speech

"The First Minister of Scotland is in my admittedly biased opinion, the very best job in the world. It is a privilege beyond measure, one that has sustained and inspired me in good times and through the toughest hours of my toughest days. I am proud to stand here as the first female and longest serving incumbent of this office. And I'm very proud of what has been achieved in the years I've been in good house.

However, since my very first moments in the job, I have believed that part of serving well would be to know almost instinctively when the time is right to make wait for someone else. And when that time came to have the courage to do so, even if too many across the country and in my party, it might feel too soon in my head and in my heart. I know that time is now that it is right for me, for my party and for the country. So today I am announcing my intention to step down as first minister and leader of my party, have asked the national secretary of the SNP to begin the process of electing a new party leader and I will remain in office until my successor is elected.

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 will, how should I put this, cope with the news just fine, such as the beauty of democracy.

But to those who do feel shocked, disappointed, perhaps even a bit angry with me. Please know that 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.

Let me set out as best as I can, my reasons.

First, though I know it will be tempting to see it as such. This decision is not a reaction to short term pressures. Of course there are difficult issues confronting the government just now. When is that ever not the case? I have spent almost three decades in frontline politics.

A decade and a half on the top or second top rung of government. When it comes to navigating choppy waters resolving seemingly intractable issues, or soldiering on when walking away would be the simpler option. I have plenty of experience to draw on. So if this was just a question of my ability or my resilience to get through the latest period of pressure, I wouldn't be standing here today, but it's not. 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 difficult conclusion that it's not. The questions are inextricably linked, but let me try to take them in turn. I've been First Minister for over eight years, and I was Deputy First Minister, the Minister for the best part of eight years before that.

These jobs are a privilege, but they are also really hard. And especially in the case of First Minister relentlessly so.
I am a human being as well as a politician. When I entered government in 2007, my niece and youngest nephew were babies, just months old, as I said down there about to celebrate their 17th birthdays'.

Now that I think about it, that's exactly the age to be horrified at the thought of your auntie suddenly having more time for you.

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 interest 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 trains or for a walk in your own becomes very difficult. And the nature and form of modern political discourse means that there is a much greater intensity. Did I see it brutality to life as a politician than in years gone by? All in all, and actually for a long time without being a parent, it takes its toll on you and on those around you.

If that is true in the best of times, it has been more so in recent years.

Within this country through the COVID pandemic is by far the toughest thing I've done. It may well be the toughest thing I ever do. I certainly hope so.

No, by no stretch of the imagination was my job the hardest in the country during that time. But the weight of responsibility was immense.

And it's only very recently I think that I started to comprehend, let alone process the physical and mental impact of it on me.

So what I'm really seeing is this. 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 desires 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 conclusion heart, the way 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 see sort of you 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 the domain of his parliamentary term.

And right now, in a very particular sense, I feel that duty to my party to we are at a critical moment. The blocking of a referendum as the accepted constitutional route to independence is a democratic outrage. But it puts the onus on us to decide how Scottish democracy will be protected and to ensure that the will of the Scottish people prevails. My preference of using the next Westminster election as a de facto referendum is well known. I've never pretended it is perfect nor second best option. Ever. It is not that there are no alternatives. That is why I've always been clear that the 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 wheat when our conference meets next month. And I cannot in good conscience ask the party to choose an option based on my judgement. While it's not being convinced that I will be there as a leader to see it through by making my decision clear, no I freely SNP to choose the path that believes to be the right one without worrying about the perceived implications for my leadership, and in the knowledge that a new leader will see us I believe successfully on that path.

Now there are two further reflections that have weighed in my decision. These I suppose, I'm all about our political culture, and the nature and impact of the dominance and longevity that come from success and politics. And the first I hope my party will take heart from one of the difficulties in coming to terms with this decision is that I am confident that I can and would with the SNP to subvert electoral success. We remain by far the most trusted party in Scotland.

And while for every person in Scotland who loves me, that is another who, let's see might not be quite so enthusiastic. We are firmly on course to win the next election. By load opponents remain adrift.

But the longer any leader is in office, the more opinions about them become fixed and very hard to change. And that matters. Individual pools come and go. But I am firmly of the view that there is no majority support for independence in Scotland. But as support needs to be solidified. And it needs to grow fonder, if an independent Scotland is to have the best possible foundation to achieve that we must reach across the divide in Scottish politics.

And my judgement now is that a new leader will be better able to do this, someone about 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 know, the good news, as the country will now get to see more clearly perhaps, is that the SNP is full of talented individuals more than up to that task.

My second reflection is related.

You I feel more and more each day know that the fixed opinions people increasingly have about me because I see some fear. Others little more than caricature are being used as barriers to reasoned 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 and as a result, viewed not on their own merits, but through the prism of what I think and what people think about me.

I've always been of the belief that no one individual should be dominant in any system for too long. Well, it's easy to hold that view in the abstract, it is much harder to live by. With this decision. I am trying to do so.

Indeed, if all parties were to take this opportunity to depolarize public debate just a bit, to focus more on issues than on personalities, and to reset the tone and the tenor of our discourse. Then this decision, right for me, and I believe in my party and the country may also prove to be good for our politics. I certainly live in.

Now, a couple of final points before I take a few questions. While I am stepping down from leadership. I am not leaving politics. There are many issues I care deeply about and hope to champion in future. One of these is the promise the national mission so close to my heart to improve the life chances of key expedience young people and ensuring they grew up nurtured and loved. My commitment to these young people will be lifelong.
And obviously, that is independence.

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 is being one. I intend to be there as it is one every step of the way.

Yesterday morning, I attended the funeral of a very, very dear friend and long standing independence activist, a wonderful man by the name of Alan Angus.

It was actually during that funeral service that I went from being 99% certain about this decision to 100% Certain, though I know Alan would not be at all happy to have played any part in my departure. So I'm sorry.
But his funeral reminded me that the cause of independence is so much bigger than any one individual. The 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, a campaigner and the 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 to.

Lastly, there will be time in the days to come from me and others to reflect on what has been achieved during my time as First Minister. I'm pretty certain there'll be plenty of commentary on my mistakes as well.

And we'll have more to see before I admit office, but allow me some brief reflections now.

Scotland has changed country since 2014. And in so so many ways. It is changed for the better. Young people from deprived backgrounds have never had a better chance of going to university than an investment to double early learning and childcare is transforming opportunities for the youngest children. It's also enabling more women to return to work.

The baby box is in training our aspiration, that every child should have the best start in life. Scotland is faster today than it was in 2014. We have a more progressive approach to taxation, and a new social security system with the Scottish child payment at its heart as the Institute for Fiscal Studies confirmed last week, the poorest families with children in Scotland are now £2000 better off as a result of our policies.

For many in this cost of living crisis that will be the difference between food on the table and a warm home or not. There are stronger protections for victims of domestic abuse and parliament will sink instead of legislation to improve access to justice for victims of rape and sexual offences. I will be the strongest possible advocate for these reforms from the back benches.

We've also shown over these past few years what can be done with the full powers of a nation creating institutions that are part of the transition to becoming independent, eu tax and social security agencies. A network of trade hubs across the world and a state owned investment bank ready to help the country reap the industrial benefits of our vast renewable resources.

There is so much that I am proud of but there is always so much more to be done. I look forward to watching with praise as my successor picks up the baton."