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Nicola Sturgeon launches campaign to succeed Alex Salmond Nicola Sturgeon launches campaign to succeed Alex Salmond
(about 5 hours later)
Nicola Sturgeon has launched her bid to succeed Alex Salmond as the next SNP leader – and to become Scotland’s first female first minister – after Salmond’s announcement on Friday that he would be stepping down in November. Nicola Sturgeon is to oversee a shift in the Scottish National party’s stance on independence by campaigning instead for far greater devolution within the UK if she becomes first minister.
Sturgeon, who is widely expected to be elected as the SNP’s new leader unopposed after all her senior colleagues backed her nomination, promised she would work in good faith with pro-union parties on delivering substantial new powers for the Scottish parliament. After serving as Alex Salmond’s deputy for seven years, Sturgeon is expected to be elected unopposed to succeed him as party leader and first minister after Salmond quit last Friday, hours after independence was rejected by more than 2 million referendum voters.
Insisting she wanted to become first minister on behalf of all Scotland’s voters, not just SNP supporters or yes voters, Sturgeon said her job “was to reach out and make common cause [with] all those who want progressive change in our country”. On Wednesday, as she formally launched her leadership bid, which has now won endorsements from all her senior colleagues, Sturgeon said she accepted and respected that Scottish voters had voted to remain in the UK. She promised she would work “in good faith” with pro-union parties and Lord Smith, the peer appointed by the UK parties to head the fast-tracked programme to draw up a package of new tax and welfare powers by January.
She confirmed a radical shift in the SNP’s strategy on independence, ending 25 years of non-participation in the cross-party programmes to set up the Scottish parliament and increase its devolved powers under Salmond’s often hostile leadership. Sturgeon then confirmed a dramatic shift in the SNP’s quest for independence, ending 25 years of non-participation in the cross-party coalitions which set up the Scottish parliament in the 1990s and increased its devolved powers under Salmond’s often hostile leadership.
“We must seize the opportunity to design a comprehensive and coherent package that will allow us to create jobs, ensure proper fiscal accountability, protect our public services, deliver fair social security and tackle the inequality that scars our nation,” she said in central Glasgow with a statue of the Scottish parliament’s founder, Donald Dewar, on the street below. “There will be no sitting on the sidelines for the SNP in this process. Nor will there be any secretly hoping for this process to fail; I want this process to succeed,” she said, adding: “I am not prepared for another referendum. We’ve just had a referendum.”
Her confidence boosted by an unprecedented surge in party membership, with more than 30,000 people joining the SNP since last Friday’s referendum defeat, Sturgeon stated: “It must be a package that maximises devolution in substance, not just in rhetoric. That is what I believe the majority of people in this country now want.” Speaking in central Glasgow with a statue of the Scottish parliament’s founder, Donald Dewar, on the street below, she said: “We must seize the opportunity to design a comprehensive and coherent package that will allow us to create jobs, ensure proper fiscal accountability, protect our public services, deliver fair social security and tackle the inequality that scars our nation.”
She refused to rule out a future referendum, arguing that it was for the Scottish people to decide whether one was necessary, but she made clear she had no plans or long-term objective of pressing for another independence vote. With Sturgeon having formally resigned as SNP deputy leader to stand for the top job, a race is set to begin to find her deputy, with firm bids expected to be announced by several candidates on Thursday.
However, that decision could be influenced by political events, such as a vote in a UK-wide referendum to leave the EU in 2017. It will also hinge on whether the UK parties honour their promise during the referendum campaign of allowing Scotland real “home rule” or maximum devolution for Holyrood. At least one MP at Westminster is preparing to make a bid, arguing that a strong presence in the Commons next year will be crucial for the SNP’s quest to deliver substantial devolution. Younger junior ministers are also considering running, with the most senior cabinet ministers ruling themselves out.
If they failed to do so, they would pay a heavy price for ignoring the will of the Scottish people, she said. Senior figures in the Scottish Labour party have admitted privately that they believe Sturgeon will be a more significant threat than Salmond. She is popular with Scotland’s centre-left and is an MSP for Glasgow, where all of the once-Labour dominated city’s eight Holyrood constituencies voted for independence.
Sturgeon added that on Monday she met Lord Smith of Kelvin, the peer appointed to chair the extra devolution powers commission by the UK parties, and promised to work constructively to deliver more powers. She was not “secretly hoping that that process fails”, she said. Boosted by an unprecedented surge in party membership – more than 30,000 people have joined the SNP since the referendum – Sturgeon insisted that any new powers had to be significant, particularly on welfare, job creation and taxation. Citing Gordon Brown’s repeated claims that the UK parties were offering new “home rule” powers close to federalism and the pledge signed by David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, she claimed many voters rejected independence because they expected significant devolution.
“I am not prepared for another referendum. We’ve just had a referendum,” Sturgeon added. “But one thing which is important for [UK] politicians to understand is that the question of if and when there’s another referendum depends on circumstances and the mood of the [Scottish] public.” “It must be a package that maximises devolution in substance, not just in rhetoric. That is what I believe the majority of people in this country now want,” she said, adding that the UK parties would face “a heavy price” if they failed to deliver.
Despite allegations in the yes movement that last week’s referendum was fixed or flawed, Sturgeon said she had no doubts about the integrity of the poll. “I accept the result of the referendum last week; Scotland did not vote yes,” she said. Sturgeon refused to rule out another referendum if circumstances changed: a failure by Westminster to devolve substantial powers next year or a vote by the rest of the UK to leave the European Union in 2017 could cause enough discontent to trigger another vote, she suggested.
Clearly concerned about the risks of criticism for being elected leader in an unopposed coronation, Sturgeon refused to name any preferred candidate to be her deputy. She said she wanted a fully fledged open competition for SNP deputy leader, adding she did not fear a contest for the leader’s post. Sturgeon implied she had always been comfortable with maximum devolution within the UK, a policy known as home rule: “Throughout my entire time in politics, I have always argued for the maximum powers over life in Scotland to lie in Scotland … I remain to be convinced that the UK parties will deliver on the substance and the rhetoric of their promise [but] I struggle to see a circumstance where I would be blocking more powers for the Scottish parliament; it runs completely counter to everything that I stand for as a politician.”
Experienced members of the Scottish Labour party admit privately they fear Sturgeon as SNP leader far more than Salmond. Sturgeon – who is popular on Scotland’s centre-left and an MSP for Glasgow, where all of the once-Labour dominated city’s eight Holyrood constituencies voted yes on Thursday – is regarded as a far more significant challenge to Labour in urban areas.
She is expected, however, to come under intense pressure from Holyrood opposition parties to introduce better childcare, primary and preventative healthcare and improve funding of Scotland’s colleges. Sturgeon indicated she would oversee a review of many of her government’s policies, asking her cabinet to ensure they were using all Holyrood’s powers effectively.