Scottish First Minister to Resign

Scottish First Minister to Resign
Nicola Sturgeon has announced her intention to resign as the First Minister of Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon has announced her intention to resign as the First Minister of Scotland and the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP).

The MSP for the Glasgow Southside constituency, Sturgeon was elected as First Minister on November 19, 2014. Sturgeon first joined the SNP at the age of 16, the party’s website highlights.

“Being First Minister of Scotland is, in my opinion, the best job in the world,” Sturgeon said in a statement posted on the Scottish government’s website.

“Since my first moments in the job, I have believed that part of serving well would be to know, almost instinctively, when the time is right to make way for someone else. And when that time comes, to have the courage to do so. In my head and my heart, I know that time is now,” Sturgeon added in the statement.

“I have been First Minister for over eight years, and I was Deputy First Minister for the best part of eight years before that. These jobs are a privilege, but they are also, rightly, hard. And, it is only possible to give absolutely everything to a job of this nature for so long,” Sturgeon continued.

In the statement, Sturgeon said she considers the decision to be the right one “for me, my party and the country”.

“I hope it can also be the right one for our politics. If all parties were to take this opportunity to try to de-polarize public debate just a bit, to focus more on issues, and to reset the tone and tenor of our discourse,” Sturgeon added.

Scottish Oil, Gas, Energy

When Rigzone contacted industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) for comment on Sturgeon’s announcement of her intention to resign, OEUK CEO Dave Whitehouse said the organization “would like to thank Nicola Sturgeon for her personal service and dedication to Scotland over the last eight years, particularly her leadership during the pandemic”.

“We look forward to welcoming the next First Minister and SNP Leader in due course, and we will continue to urge them and their administration to recognize the vital role of the offshore energy sector to Scotland’s economy and to help realize a successful offshore energy future which benefits everyone from Aberdeen to Glasgow, and from Sullom Voe to Gretna,” Whitehouse added.

Last month, the Scottish government published a Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which it described as a “route map to secure Scotland’s fastest possible fair and just transition away from fossil fuels”. Key policy proposals published for consultation included “substantially” increasing the current level of 13.4 gigawatts of renewable electricity generation capacity and setting out final policy positions on fossil fuel energy, “including consulting on a presumption against new exploration for North Sea oil and gas”, the government highlighted.

Ahead of the publication of the new strategy for the energy sector, Sturgeon said there was a clear imperative to accelerate the clean energy transition and reduce Scotland’s dependence on oil and gas, an update posted on the Scottish government’s website on January 10 outlined.

According to the Scottish government’s Energy Statistics Hub, Scotland accounted for 95.4 percent of total UK crude oil and NGLs production and 71.7 percent of total UK gas production in 2021.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com

 


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