Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish political dream appears to be dying less than 24 hours after her shock resignation as First Minister and Scottish National Party leader.
Senior SNP figures have revealed they plan to ditch her flagship Gender Recognition Reform Bill that would allow teenagers to transition from the age of 16.
The highly controversial Holyrood law was vetoed by Westminster under devolution legislation and a legal challenge brought by Ms Sturgeon is set to be discontinued, the Telegraph reported.
At the same time, Unionists hailed her departure as a ‘generational setback’ for the independence movement, with a Tory minister saying it was the best day since the 2014 referendum.
Around 250 unionist supporters took to George Square in Glasgow last night as they celebrated the First Minister’s departure, and could be seen waving Union Jack flags, opening bottles of bubbly and even forming a conga line.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn this morning suggested that the party’s planned conference to discuss the next steps in its push for Scottish independence could now be delayed.
As many as five SNP figures are expected to run to replace Ms Sturgeon in what could be a bloody fight between her close allies and more socially conservative figures.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish political dream appears to be dying less than 24 hours after her shock resignation as First Minister and Scottish National Party leader.
A man known as ‘Glasgow Cabbie’ opens a bottle of champagne with Unionist supporters at an an ‘Expose Scotland’ organised meeting at George Square
The SNP’s National Executive Committee is due to meet this evening to hammer out the terms of a leadership campaign expected to last two or three months.
The First Minister had vowed to defend the gender legislation after Westminster enacted never-before-used powers to block her bid to make it easier to change gender in Scotland.
Holyrood has until mid-April to challenge London’s decision but the race to replace Ms Strugeon is likely to run until at least that deadline – plunging hopes of resurrecting the policy into serious doubt, even if it is not officially ditched.
An SNP source told the Telegraph: ‘We need to get back on track by pursuing things that matter to the people of Scotland, not pushing stuff that the public is vehemently opposed to.
‘I expect the gender reforms to be parked somewhere as quickly as possible. Any sensible new leader will want to get that off the front pages, and quickly.’
Standing down now means she will avoid running a legal challenge she was likely to lose, or not launching an objection at all, both of which would have severely weakened her position.
Ms Sturgeon yesterday insisted that the row over the plan, passed by the Scottish parliament in December, was not the ‘final straw’ that led to her resignation – despite it deepening divisions within her party.
The SNP’s national executive committee is expected to meet on Thursday to discuss the timing for a leadership contest.
The SNP’s president, Michael Russell, has said he expects that process to be ‘shortened’ and for there to be a ‘contested election’.
Though there is no obvious candidate to succeed the outgoing First Minister, potential candidates include: External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson; Finance Secretary Kate Forbes; Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and deputy first minister John Swinney.
Labour was last night looking to capitalise on Nicola Sturgeon’s shock resignation hoping it would help Sir Keir Starmer reach Downing Street.
abour were last night looking to capitalise on Nicola Sturgeon’s shock resignation hoping it would help Sir Keir Starmer reach Downing Street
Since the 2015 general election, when it lost 40 of its 41 MPs north of the border, Labour has largely remained in the political wilderness in Scotland.
It won seven seats in the 2017 election, but this plummeted to one again in 2019 as Ms Sturgeon hoovered up Left-leaning voters trying to block a pro-Brexit Tory party from storming to victory in Westminster. Tory seats in Scotland fell from 13 in 2017 to six in 2019.
But Ms Sturgeon’s departure potentially leaves the door open for a Labour comeback in Scotland, helping the party win a majority and the keys to No 10 at the next election, likely to be in autumn next year.
One Labour MP with knowledge of the party’s Scottish strategy said: ‘There are some seats where the Tories are capable of a comeback, but Labour stands to be the biggest beneficiary given the number of seats where there’s been Labour representation historically.
‘The internal struggles of the SNP are making it almost unmanageable now for them to maintain the success that Sturgeon had and we’ll try and exploit that.
‘Sturgeon may be hoping she can defuse it by stepping down, but the SNP’s problems run much deeper.’ One message they may look to drive home, added the MP, was that voting in a Labour government in Westminster would be a quicker and easier way of toppling ‘hated’ Tory rule than trying to secure another independence referendum, win it and then apply to re-join the European Union.
Another Labour figure said: ‘We were already on the upward trajectory and [Scottish Labour leader] Anas Sarwar is seen as a credible insurgent and this helps hugely.’ A third senior party official told Politico: ‘Politics is about seizing your breakthrough moments. We intend to seize this.’
Sir Keir is due to give a speech at Scottish Labour’s annual conference on Sunday, when he will declare his party a government in waiting. Mr Sarwar and Ian Murray, the only Scottish Labour MP, will give speeches on Friday and Saturday.
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