Nicola Sturgeon, the nationalist firebrand who dominated Scottish politics for almost a decade, has bowed out with an emotional valedictory speech.
Addressing the Scottish parliament for the final time, the former first minister said it was a wrench to leave Holyrood, but the time was right to move on.
She was elected to the newly devolved parliament in 1999, and was Scotland’s first minister from 2014 until she quit in 2023 amid a Scottish National Party (SNP) financial scandal – but was later cleared.
“I’ve been here for 27 years – that’s almost exactly half my life,” she said in her farewell speech. “So even though the time is right to move on, I won’t pretend that leaving isn’t a wrench. It is.”
She was the political protege of Alex Salmond, and served as his deputy from 2007 until she succeeded him as first minister after the SNP lost the 2014 independence referendum.
Nicola Sturgeon fell out with her former mentor and predecessor as first minister, Alex Salmond. Pic: PA
But they fell out in a spectacular feud linked to allegations of sexual harassment against him. He was later acquitted, but she was not invited to his funeral when he died in 2024.
The high point of her career came when she led the SNP to a landslide in Scotland in the 2015 UK general election, when her party won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at Westminster.
At the time, she was one of the most formidable campaigners in British politics, and ruled her party with an iron discipline, aided by her husband, Peter Murrell, who was the SNP’s chief executive.
But in 2023, Police Scotland launched a fraud inquiry over SNP cash, raised for independence campaigning, that it was alleged was used to buy a £125,000 camper van and luxury items.
Ms Sturgeon was one of the most formidable campaigners in British politics. Pic: PA
The pair, who first met in 1988, became a couple in 2003 and married in 2010, but separated in 2025. He was charged with embezzlement and is due to appear at Edinburgh High Court in May.
‘Opponents need not be enemies,’ Sturgeon tells MSPs
In her emotional speech which saw her wipe away tears, Ms Sturgeon said during her time in Holyrood she had seen politics change almost beyond recognition “and not always for the better”.
She said she accepted a share of responsibility for that but, in offering her parting thoughts, said MSPs must not take the parliament for granted.
And despite being seen as tribal during her SNP leadership, she said politicians should make friends in other parties, adding: “Opponents need not be enemies.”
Offering advice as she signed off as an MSP, she said: “No matter the depths of your loyalty to your own political tribe, don’t forget to think for yourself.
“Keep a sense of perspective, you know if everything is a scandal or an outrage, nothing is. And then those who deserve to be held to account, they get off scot-free.”
Ms Sturgeon was first minister of Scotland for eight-and-a-half years, including during the entire Covid pandemic. Pic: PA
And despite having 1.3 followers on X, nearly 450,000 on Facebook and 130,000 on Instagram, she warned: “Don’t live life on social media.
“Use it, but never forget there is a real world out there and it is the people in it you are here to serve.
“And, finally, every day you walk through these doors and into this magnificent chamber, remember that it is a privilege, a rare privilege.
“For 27 years it has been my privilege, one that I must now draw to a close.”
