Nicola Sturgeon blow as Brits give brutal verdict on SNP leader
Nicola Sturgeon announces she is to step down as SNP leader
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The majority of Brits do not think Nicola Sturgeon was a force for good in Scottish politics, new polling suggests. The exclusive Techne poll for the Express found 50 percent of respondents said the SNP leader did not have a positive impact.
In the poll of 1,624 British adults around a third – 32 percent – said Ms Sturgeon was a force for good in Scottish politics.
Some 18 percent did not know in the survey carried out from February 22 to 23.
Brexiteers and Remainers were broadly in agreement, with 56 percent and 53 percent respectively saying the Scottish First Minister was not a positive force.
Conservative voters were slightly more likely than their Labour counterparts to have an unfavourable view of the SNP leader’s contribution to Scottish politics.
Some 60 percent of Tory voters said she was not a force for good, compared to 52 percent for Labour.
The polling comes after Ms Sturgeon announced her resignation earlier this month after eight years in office.
The SNP leader insisted a series of recent political challenges had not prompted the shock decision.
Ms Sturgeon’s resignation came after the Scottish Government sought to push through controversial gender reforms, only for them to be blocked by Westminster.
She acknowledged the “choppy waters” but said her departure was not in response to the “latest period of pressure”.
The 52-year-old said: “This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment.
“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now. That it’s right for me, for my party and my country.”
The SNP’s vote share in opinion polls in Scotland has dipped in recent months, though the party remains ahead of all other parties.
Ms Sturgeon, who rose to power after Scots rejected independence in 2014, has also failed to realise her obsession with breaking away from the UK.
In a bitter blow, the Supreme Court last year ruled that Holyrood does not have the power to hold a second ballot.
Ms Sturgeon had planned to fight the next general election as a de facto referendum on Scottish independence, but her exit now raises questions about the immediate future of the cause itself.
Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and former community safety minister Ash Regan are vying to replace Ms Sturgeon.
The trio will face off in the first of several hustings on Wednesday in Cumbernauld in the race to become SNP leader and Scottish First Minister.
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