Following Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement that she will resign as First Minister of Scotland, Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston said:
"While this news may have come as a surprise to many, it has been clear for some time that Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership of both the Scottish Government and the SNP was coming to an end.
“She has been in government for 15 years, a time when the SNP’s push for independence has always trumped the need to deliver better public services or a strong economy.
“And more recently, her refusal to compromise on gender reform has divided her party just as much as her obsession with independence has divided our country.
“While she might claim otherwise, this decision was one forced upon her. Her SNP colleagues are increasingly turning against her, there is a police investigation into her party, her policy agenda is in tatters, and she’s failed to deliver any movement on independence.
"There will now be a new First Minister and, while there is not abundance of talent available in the SNP, whoever follows Nicola Sturgeon must put aside their own ambitions and work to bring the country together and end more than a decade of constitutional navel-gazing.
“Scotland’s needs a government focused on delivering better schools, cutting NHS waiting lists, investing in transport infrastructure, and building an economy that supports jobs, livelihoods and opportunities across our country.
“Whoever the SNP choose, they must put the Scottish people’s priorities first, not the SNP’s”.
