Nicola Sturgeon will step down as Scotland's First Minister. She said she will continue at the helm until the Scottish National Party (SNP) selects a successor.
- Sturgeon, who was elected in 2014, is the longest-serving First Minister in Scottish history.
- She said her time to step down has come, in part because of the toll of running the government through the pandemic.
- She led the Scottish independence campaign in 2014 and took over as First Minister following the failed Scottish independence referendum.
- 55% of Scottish voters chose to stay in the U.K., compared to 45% who wanted Scotland to become an independent nation.
- Sturgeon, 52, has continued campaigning for independence, but her efforts to organize a second independence referendum were thwarted by the British constitutional court.
- In her resignation speech, Sturgeon said she believes that her successor "will lead Scotland to independence."
