Edinburgh (United Kingdom) 15 Feb. Scottish Opposition Leader Tory Douglas Ross today slammed Chief Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has resigned after nearly a decade in office, as leaving a legacy of ‘division and decay’.
The leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party reacted to Sturgeon’s resignation by assuring that his management was still “in the interest of his party, rather than in favor of the interests of Scotland”.
“His entire term has been characterized by tireless agitation for a new vote on separation,” the Tory leader said in a statement, referring to the independence referendum the Scottish government has been coveting in 2023.
Ross claimed Sturgeon ‘refused to accept the outcome’ of the 2014 plebiscite, in which the British permanency won with 55% of the vote, and decreed ‘a decade of division and decline in Scotland’.
The Scottish opponent has argued that the region is in a ‘constitutional paralysis’ so now, he says, the new leadership of government must ‘focus on the real priorities of the Scottish people, in particular the cost of living and public health system”.
From the Scottish Labor Party, the third force in the self-governing Parliament, his legacy and activity during one of the darkest times, the Covid pandemic, was recognised: “It is right to pay tribute to his achievements, particularly during the pandemic,” he said in another statement their leader, Anas Sarwar.
The personal cost of having governed during this period was one of the reasons the 52-year-old nationalist leader cited to the media today for her resignation.
Sturgeon has been chief minister since November 2014, although she was previously the right-hand man of her predecessor, Alex Salmond, as deputy leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since 2004.
Sarwar has recognized his figure in Scottish history ‘despite political differences’ after being at the forefront of Scottish politics for over two decades, something which ‘on a human level is worthy of respect and appreciation,” he said. ECE
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