LONDON — Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Wednesday announced her intention to resign, saying that part of serving in politics is knowing when it is time to make way for someone else.
Speaking at a news conference at her official residence in Edinburgh, Bute House, Sturgeon said she wrestled with the decision, but that the pressure of the job was relentless and that she is a human being as well as a politician.
Sturgeon, who has led the country’s devolved government and the Scottish National Party for eight years, has faced months of controversy over a law that makes it simpler for people to change their gender on official documents, the BBC reported Wednesday.
The decision caught political observers by surprise, despite the ongoing controversy over the gender recognition measure. She had vowed to take the British government to court over its decision to block the law and argued that the Conservative U.K. government was making a “profound mistake” by vetoing the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
