Sawt Falasteen - Soul-searching for Scotland's SNP as Sturgeon quits

After more than eight eventful years as Scotland's first minister and SNP chief, Sturgeon said on Wednesday she lacked the "energy" to carry on and would step down.

The party's executive was to meet later on Thursday to set the timetable for the leadership race.

There is no frontrunner to succeed Sturgeon, who was a towering presence in Scottish and UK politics, and no clear path forward on the dream of independence for Scotland from the United Kingdom.

Sturgeon announced the conference for March 19 after the Supreme Court in London agreed that only the UK government, and not the Edinburgh parliament, could call a second independence referendum.

Scots voted in 2014 to remain part of the UK. But the SNP says the calculus was upended with Britain's Brexit referendum two years later, when a majority in Scotland opposed leaving the European Union.

Despite Brexit, the UK's Conservative government has ruled out a second plebiscite in Scotland. Sturgeon summoned the conference in a bid to chart a way out of the constitutional conundrum.

Her preferred path was to turn the next UK election, due by early 2025, into a "de facto referendum" on separation, but that has left many in the SNP nervous at the prospect of electoral blowback.

"I personally think that party conference should be paused, for obvious reasons," Stephen Flynn, who leads the SNP in the Westminster parliament, told Sky News.

"I think the new leader should have the opportunity and indeed the space to set out their position, their values and their intentions going forward," he said.

SNP president Mike Russell told the BBC that the leadership race was "unlikely" to be over by March 19.

"Therefore there is a question to be asked about whether that should be postponed while a leader comes into place," he said.

- 'Run out of road' -

Sturgeon, 52, confirmed she would remain first minister until the SNP elects a new leader, and also stay on as a member of the Edinburgh parliament until at least the next Scottish election, due in 2026.

Opponents and SNP members alike praised her contribution to UK politics over recent years, including during the Covid pandemic.

But she departs after facing mounting pressure over her tactics on independence as well as over transgender rights.

And opinion polls point to waning support for Scotland breaking away from the UK since the Supreme Court ruling.

Possible contenders in the SNP include Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and Deputy First Minister John Swinney.

"I firmly believe that my successor, whoever he or she may be, will lead Scotland to independence, and I'll be there cheering him or her on every single step of the way," Sturgeon said.

But others cheered her departure.

In Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city and a bastion of anti-independence sentiment, demonstrators danced a line and waved UK flags late on Wednesday, as they chanted "conga, conga, conga, Nicola's no longer!"

Others celebrating included Britain's opposition Labour party, which until this century ruled the roost in Scotland. It needs a strong performance there to return to power across the UK.

"For 12 years I don't think people in Scotland have believed that a Labour UK government was possible," Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said.

"I think that is changing now," he added.

Several commentators said that while Sturgeon had cited the strains on her personal life of many years in office, she was also admitting political defeat.

Veteran Scottish journalist Andrew Neil said that if she truly believed her claim that independence was within reach, she would not be quitting now.

"In truth, Sturgeon has run out of road," he wrote in the Daily Mail. "All possible paths to independence are blocked."

G.AbuGhazaleh--SF-PST