Sturgeon’s exit a setback for Scottish independence
Scotland’s independence movement needs a new leader — and a new plan.
With the resignation of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the decades-long campaign by Scottish nationalists to secede from the United Kingdom is losing its star politician and strongest communicator, at a time when efforts to hold a new vote on independence are at an impasse.
The Times of London said Thursday that Sturgeon’s departure was a “huge boost to unionism,” and a “generational setback” to the independence cause. Financial Times columnist Robert Shrimsley said simply: “Nicola Sturgeon ran out of road.”
Sturgeon took the U.K. by surprise when she announced her resignation on Wednesday after eight years in office, saying she knew “in my head and in my heart” it was time to leave.
She will remain first minister for several more weeks while the Scottish National Party picks a new leader, a job for which there is no clear favorite. Potential successors include Angus Robertson, a Sturgeon ally who serves as Scotland’s constitution secretary, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and Health Secretary Humza Yousaf. But none of the contenders has Sturgeon’s profile or proven political skills.
Voting for the new party leader will open March 12 and close March 27.
Whoever wins will have to find a way to break the independence logjam. Scottish voters opted by 55% to 45% to remain in the U.K. in a 2014 referendum that was billed as a once-in-ageneration decision.
Sturgeon took power in the wake of that defeat and tried to forge a path to a second vote. Brexit looked like it might give her a chance: The U.K. as a whole backed leaving the European Union in a 2016 referendum, but voters in Scotland strongly favored remaining. Sturgeon argued that Brexit had made a new referendum essential because it had dragged Scotland out of the European Union against its will.
But a binding referendum needs agreement from the U.K. government, and the Conservative administration in London has refused to grant one.