Nicola Sturgeon is standing down as Scotland's First Minister after eight years.
She told a short-notice press conference at Bute House in Edinburgh at 11am today that "the time is now" for her to stand down.
Ms Sturgeon said she was not standing down as a reaction to recent short-term pressures, including the rows over gender recognition reform that led to a clash with the UK government. Instead she said the decision had been some time in the making and that her departure was "right for me, for my party and for the country".
She said her departure would allow the SNP to develop its proposals to push for independence, saying: "The cause of independence is so much bigger than any one individual".
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The SNP was set to meet next month to discuss treating the next UK election as a "de facto referendum", meaning that if the party got more than 50% of the vote then the new Scottish government would begin independence negotiations.
Today she said her resignation as Scotland’s First Minister “frees the SNP” on the issue of Scottish independence “to choose the path it believes to be the right one without worrying about the perceived implications for my leadership”.
Ms Sturgeon said she had instructed the party to begin the process of electing a new leader, and said she would stay in office until a successor was chosen. She also said was not leaving politics and that she would continue to focus on winning independence for Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon took charge in 2014, succeeding Alex Salmond, and has led the SNP to repeated victories at Scottish, local and national level.
She said: “I am proud to stand here as the first female and longest serving incumbent of this office and I am very proud of what has been achieved in the years I’ve been blessed to do this.
“However, since the very first moment in the job, I have believed that part of serving well would be to know, almost instinctively, when the time is right, to make way for someone else.
“And when that time came, to have the courage to do so, even if to many across the country and in my party, might feel it 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. And so today I am announcing my intention to step down as First Minister and leader of my party.”
Setting out “as best as I can my reasons”, the outgoing First Minister said: “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, but 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 may 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?”
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