Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon resigned after more than eight years as head of the country’s government and independence movement in a surprise move that will reverberate across UK politics.
Sturgeon, 52, has headed the semi-autonomous administration in Edinburgh since 2014. The decision to step down comes after an unusually turbulent time for Sturgeon. It leaves her Scottish National Party — and the independence campaign — looking for a new figurehead without a clear road map, and after a recent dip in the polls.
At a press conference in Edinburgh, Sturgeon said that she’d always felt that “part of serving well would be to know almost instinctively when the time is right to make way for someone else.”
