Why Sturgeon resigned

In a somewhat surprising move Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has resigned. There are a number of factors in her resignation:

• Second referendum obsession. She was obsessed with holding a second referendum on independence, despite the 2014 referendum being billed as a once in a generation decision. The UK Supreme Court had ruled there could not be one, without the agreement of the UK Parliament.
• Her Government passed the Gender Recognition Reform bill by 86 votes to 39 with opponents saying it would conflict with the UK-wide Equality Act by, for example, making it more difficult for women-only spaces to exclude people who were born biologically male. In an unprecedented move the UK government blocked it from receiving royal assent, a move actually backed by the majority of Scots in opinion polls.
• Just after the law passed, it was revealed a double rapist, now called Isla Bryson, had been placed in a women’s prison.
• The most recent poll showed Sturgeon’s net approval had fallen 11% from +7% to -4%, support for independence fallen 6% to 47% and support for the SNP 6% to 44%
• The 44% SNP vote is critical as Sturgeon’s plan was to treat the next Socttish election as a de factor independence referendum, with a threshold being a 50% or greater vote for the SNP

So somewhat like Jacinda Ardern, she went because she had unpopular policies, and had become unpopular herself. We won’t know her successor for a while as it goes to a membership vote. Candidates must have 100 nominees from at least 20 branches. Nominations stay open for a huge 77 days and then voting starts 35 days and concludes after 21 days. So total time is 133 days or around four months, so expect a decision in June or July.