Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said Wednesday that she plans to step down after more than eight years in office, amid criticism of her drive to expand transgender rights and her strategy for achieving independence from the United Kingdom. Sturgeon made the surprise announcement during a news conference at her official residence in Edinburgh, Bute House, saying the decision wasn’t a response to the “latest period of pressure.” But she added that part of serving well was knowing when to make way for someone else. “In my head and in my heart I know that time is now,” she said. “That it’s right for me, for my party and my country.” Sturgeon, 52, has led Scotland since 2014, when Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. While the referendum was billed as a once-in-a-generation decision on independence, Sturgeon and her Scottish National Party have pushed for a new vote, arguing that Britain’s departure from the European Union had changed the ground rules. Also read: Loan scam aftermath: SIBL Chairman and AMD resign The U.K. government has refused to allow a second referendum. The first female leader of Scotland’s devolved government, Sturgeon won praise for her calm, measured public communications during the pandemic — a contrast to the erratic messaging of then-U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. She led her party to dominance in Scottish politics but leaves office with the goal of her political life — independence — unfulfilled. Sturgeon said she planned to remain in office until the SNP elects a new leader. Scotland is part of the U.K. but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas including health care. Sturgeon’s announcement caught political observers by surprise amid her staunch support for both independence and legislation that would make it easier for people in Scotland to legally change genders. Just two weeks ago she scoffed at resignation rumors, saying she still had “plenty in the tank.” “This is as sudden as Jacinda Ardern … Geez,” tweeted SNP lawmaker Angus MacNeil, referring to the resignation last month of New Zealand’s prime minister. Sturgeon came under pressure in recent weeks after she pushed the gender recognition bill through the Scottish parliament over the objections of some members of her own party. That raised concerns that Sturgeon’s position on transgender rights could undermine support for independence, the SNP’s overarching goal. Joanna Cherry, an SNP member of Parliament who opposes the new gender law, said the resignation provided an opportunity for the party. “We must restore the SNP’s tradition of internal party democracy, open respectful debate and intellectual rigour and we must also put the welfare of everyone living in Scotland back at the heart of our endeavours,” Cherry said on Twitter. Sturgeon said she had been “wrestling” with whether it was time step down for weeks. She said she wasn’t resigning because of recent criticism, though she acknowledged that the “physical and mental impact” of the job had taken their toll. Sturgeon led Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic and guided her party during three U.K.-wide elections and two Scottish elections. “If the question is, can I battle on for another few months, then the answer is yes, of course I can,” she said. “But if the question is, can I give this job everything it demands and deserves for another year, let alone for the remainder of this parliamentary term, give it every ounce of energy that it needs in the way that I have strived to do every day for the last eight years, the answer honestly is different.” Sturgeon weathered a period of scandal after her predecessor and former mentor Alex Salmond was tried and acquitted in 2020 on charges of sexual assault and attempted rape. A parliamentary investigation found that Sturgeon had misled lawmakers about what she knew, though she was cleared of major wrongdoing. In 2021 Salmond opened a rift in the independence movement by quitting the SNP to form a rival party, Alba. For the past few months, much of Sturgeon’s energy has been focused on a renewed drive for independence and the gender recognition bill, which would allow people aged 16 or older in Scotland to change the gender designations on identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Hailed as a landmark by transgender rights activists, the legislation faced opposition from some SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect single-sex spaces for women, such as domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers. Criticism of the bill increased after reports that a convicted rapist was being held in a women’s prison in Scotland while transitioning. The inmate was transferred to a men’s prison after being assessed by prison authorities. While the Scottish parliament approved the legislation, it has been blocked by the British government because it would present problems for authorities in other parts of the U.K., where a medical diagnosis is needed before individuals can transition for legal purposes. Sturgeon had vowed to take the British government to court, arguing that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s administration had made a “profound mistake” by vetoing the legislation. Sturgeon also came under fire for saying she would make the next Scottish parliament election a de facto referendum on independence after the government in Westminster refused to sanction a new vote on Scotland’s links to the U.K. The party is set to hold a conference on the strategy next month, with some members saying it won’t work and others criticizing Sturgeon for waiting too long to press ahead with independence. Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think tank, said Sturgeon had made her mark, being both influential and divisive. But she failed to secure the ultimate prize. “She’s been more successful in one way of being a figurehead, leading her party and leading the Scottish government, but she has failed to do the one thing she really set out to do, which is to secure independence,″ Maddox said.

Scotland’s leader told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Sunday that a second Scottish independence referendum is “a matter of when, not if,” after her party won its fourth straight parliamentary election. Johnson has invited the leaders of the U.K.’s devolved nations for crisis talks on the union after the regional election results rolled in, saying the U.K. was “best served when we work together” and that the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should cooperate on plans to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. But Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, told Johnson in a call that while her immediate focus was on steering Scotland to recovery, a new referendum on Scotland’s breakup from the rest of the U.K. is inevitable. Sturgeon reiterated “her intention to ensure that the people of Scotland can choose our own future when the crisis is over, and made clear that the question of a referendum is now a matter of when — not if,” her office said. Also Read:EU says US stand on patent virus waiver is no ‘magic bullet’ Earlier, she said she wouldn’t rule out legislation paving the way for a vote at the start of next year. Final results of Thursday’s local elections showed that the SNP won 64 of the 129 seats in the Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament. Although it fell one seat short of securing an overall majority, the parliament still had a pro-independence majority with the help of eight members of the Scottish Greens. Sturgeon said the election results proved that a second independence vote for Scotland was “the will of the country” and that any London politician who stood in the way would be “picking a fight with the democratic wishes of the Scottish people.” Johnson has the ultimate authority whether or not to permit another referendum on Scotland gaining independence. He wrote in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph that another referendum on Scotland would be “irresponsible and reckless” as Britain emerges from the pandemic. He has consistently argued that the issue was settled in a 2014 referendum where 55% of Scottish voters favored remaining part of the U.K. But proponents of another vote say the situation has changed fundamentally because of the U.K’s Brexit divorce from the European Union. They charge that Scotland was taken out of the EU against its will. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 52% of U.K. voters backed leaving the EU, but 62% of Scots voted to remain. Also Read: UK’s Johnson faces criticism over Scotland trip in lockdown When asked about the prospect of Johnson agreeing to a second Scottish referendum, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said Sunday “it’s not an issue for the moment” and stressed that the national priority is on recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. Gove argued that the SNP’s failure to secure a majority in the Scottish Parliament was in marked contrast to the party’s heights of power in 2011, when it won a 69-seat majority. “It is not the case now — as we see — that the people of Scotland are agitating for a referendum,” he told the BBC. The Scotland results have been the main focus of Thursday’s local elections across Britain. In Wales, the opposition Labour Party did better than expected, extending its 22 years at the helm of the Welsh government despite falling one seat short of a majority. Labour’s support also held up in some big cities. In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan handily won a second term. Other winning Labour mayoral candidates included Steve Rotherham in the Liverpool City Region, Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester and Dan Norris in the West of England region, which includes Bristol.