Ex-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon ‘wise to depart the political stage’, says Jamie Stone
Jamie Stone believes Nicola Sturgeon is right to be leaving the Scottish political stage after a “tawdry time” for the former First Minister.
The ex-SNP leader announced this week she will not be standing for election next year in her Holyrood constituency of Glasgow Southside.
Mr Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, said: “In 1999 Nicola Sturgeon and I were both elected to the new Scottish Parliament. We were MSPs together for the next 12 years, and for all of that time I had nothing but respect for her.
“Indeed, our relationship was cordial, and when I stepped down as an MSP in 2011 she wished me all the very best for the future.
“Now she is stepping down as an MSP. It is after a tawdry time during which her reputation has been greatly damaged – something that Scottish politicians of all parties, including her own, recognise. So she is wise to now depart the political stage.
“Nevertheless, she is a human being, someone with feelings – a person who will have found recent years horrendously difficult. So, in the same spirit that she extended to me in 2011, I wish her a happy and rewarding future in whatever she decides to do next.”
Ms Sturgeon told the BBC that serving in the Scottish Parliament since 1999 had been a “privilege beyond words” but added that “the time is right for me at this stage in my life to close the book on that chapter and open a new one”.
She has been embroiled in a series of controversies in recent years, including being arrested and released without charge as part of the Police Scotland probe into SNP finances.
She has been criticised for her record on Scotland’s drug-related deaths, education and gender recognition reforms, and for failing to deliver the A9 dualling project on time.
First Minister John Swinney said Ms Sturgeon had made an “extraordinary contribution” and could be proud of “changing the lives of people in Scotland for the better”.
Last year, around the time of the UK Covid inquiry, Ms Sturgeon said: “I did my level best to lead Scotland through the pandemic as safely as possible – and shared my thinking with the country on a daily basis. I did not get every decision right – far from it – but I was motivated only, and at all times, by the determination to keep people as safe as possible.”
