Sturgeon is stepping down after eight years in the position.

This morning, Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister and head of the Scottish government, announced that she intends to step down from the position. She will remain in a position of authority until a new First Minister is elected by the Scottish National Party, after which she will depart.

‘Today I am announcing my intention to step down as First Minister and leader of my party.’

Nicola Sturgeon announces her resignation as the First Minister of Scotland.

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“First, though I know it will be tempting to see it as such, this decision is not a reaction to short-term pressures,” Sturgeon said at a press conference from her home in Edenborough.

“This decision comes from a deeper and longer term assessment,” she added.

“This decision is not a reaction to short-term pressures. Of course, there are difficult issues confronting the government just now. But when is that ever not the case?” Sturgeon said. “The nature and form of modern political discourse means there is a much greater intensity — dare I say it, brutality — to being a politician than in years gone by.”

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“I have been wrestling with it, albeit with oscillating levels of intensity for some weeks,” Sturgeon added. “Giving absolutely everything of yourself to this job is the only way to do it.”

She concluded with hopes that the next First Minister is “someone who is not subject to the same polarized opinions, fair or unfair, as I now am.”