Dale and Alistair discuss the breaking news from Nicola Sturgeon. Former First Minister Sturgeon has announced she will not stand at the next Scottish Parliament elections
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00:00Hello, welcome to the Scotsman's daily video bulletin for this Wednesday. My name is Dale Miller. I'm deputy editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our political editor, Alistair Grant.
00:11Always a big day in Scottish politics, but even bigger this morning. We'll get to that shortly. Firstly, the front page of today's Scotsman.
00:21And we'll lead on devastating cuts as one in five staff acts at Dundee University. The announcement, some 630 odd places jobs were going, it represents about 20% of the workforce.
00:36It's obviously a bad signal for some of the wider issues plaguing the higher education sector. We know our education correspondent, Cal Ross, has written at length about the problems that have been facing Dundee University in particular, that led to or included the principal stepping down in recent months.
00:57But the extent of the job cuts is probably bigger than anyone expected. And warnings that will have a direct impact and threat to the local economy, including in Dundee, which has a vibrant student population that you would expect will also be affected by these wider cuts at the university.
01:18A big story there. You can read all the lies on that at Scotsman.com. But there's another big story, Alistair, today. It revolves around Nicola Sturgeon. She's made a big announcement. Tell us all about it.
01:30Yeah, so Nicola Sturgeon, to the surprise of probably no one, has announced that she will not stand the next Scottish Parliament election in May next year. As I say, this is widely expected. She was not expected to stand at that election.
01:41But this is the official confirmation, which she announced on her Instagram page. A bit of a pain for us journalists who have to transcribe the quotes from Instagram, which is not always the easiest thing to do.
01:51She effectively said that the decision has been far from easy, that she's known in her heart for a while that the time is right to embrace different opportunities in what she calls a new chapter of her life.
02:02Paying tribute to her Glasgow Southside constituency, she calls it the best in Scotland. You'd expect her to say that. But also looking back to her time as a government minister and obviously as Scotland's longest serving First Minister,
02:15when it comes to her legacy, she's pointed to things like the Scottish child payment, the expansion in early years education, new investment in housing, hospitals.
02:25But also talking about her overall experiences in politics. She's saying that she joined the SNP in 1986 because she wanted to play her part in building a fair and prosperous Scotland.
02:36And she's dedicated her life to that task ever since, talking about her continued belief in independence and saying that even though she's leaving elected politics, she hopes to contribute in different ways to making the ambition of an independent Scotland a reality.
02:50And also saying that in making her announcement, she feels a kind of mixture of sorrow and anticipation, saying she's sad to be closing the book on this chapter of her life, but excited about the start of a new phase.
03:02And I think, you know, when we look to what Nicola Sturgeon has been doing recently, she's also been working on her memoirs.
03:08She's been kind of hanging out with people like Alan Cumming. She's been kind of going down this maybe more kind of arts route. There's an expectation that she might write more books in the future.
03:17I think it's always been clear that this kind of chapter of her life, this kind of section of her life devoted to Scottish politics, which has been, as she says herself actually in her statement,
03:26you know, by the time of the next election, it will be almost 30 years that she's been an MSP, half her life.
03:32So it's a long time to spend in the front line of Scottish politics.
03:36And as I say, it's widely expected that she wouldn't stand next year. But this announcement very much the end of an era in Scottish politics.
03:43I think it's fair to say Nicola Sturgeon dominated Holyrood for so long as first minister and also as a high profile figure before that under Alex Salmond.
03:53So I think it really is drawing to a close a particular time in Scottish politics.
03:59Alistair, I know you'll be writing a bit about her legacy, how you think she may be remembered, how people may reflect on her when she does officially stand down next year.
04:09What's your initial thoughts that you can share with us?
04:13I think it's a complicated legacy in some ways. I think her legacy is undeniably damaged.
04:17I think when she stood down as first minister, you wouldn't have expected some of the things that have happened since then.
04:22I think she's been tainted by various aspects of developments that have happened since.
04:28We've obviously got this ongoing police investigation into the SNP's funding and finances.
04:33Nicola Sturgeon was arrested as part of that, but released without charge.
04:36Her husband, Peter Murrell, was charged in April last year. We're still awaiting the developments of that.
04:41I think that's inevitably had an impact on the party, on the kind of wider feelings.
04:46You also look at things like just the way that Scottish politics has gone since then.
04:51When Nicola Sturgeon stood down, Hunza Yousaf took over. The party was in a bit of a mess at that period.
04:57It fell on the polls. There was lots of upheaval behind the scenes.
05:02I think she does have to take some responsibility for that, for the way that she left.
05:07She left this black hole that wasn't filled, and that led to this very difficult period for the party.
05:13Then you had John Swinney, who was once Nicola Sturgeon's deputy, who had to step in and steady the ship.
05:19I think all of that will be part of her legacy, too.
05:22I think more recently you've seen things like self-ID, the argument around gender,
05:27which Nicola Sturgeon was very outspoken about in her time as First Minister and supporting the self-ID policies.
05:34She would have seen it as supporting the trans community in Scotland.
05:38But that's become a very contested issue, with wide repercussions in the public sector that we're seeing some of now.
05:43Obviously, there's an ongoing employment tribunal involving NHS Fife that's been hitting the headlines recently.
05:49There's a debate in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon on single-sex spaces.
05:53So I think all that stuff is kind of wrapped up in her legacy.
05:56But you've also got to look at the fact that Nicola Sturgeon, in her prime, was among the most formidable politicians in the UK.
06:03She enjoyed popularity ratings that other politicians would have killed for.
06:08I think her ability to communicate with the public, we saw that during the Covid pandemic.
06:13You can't really take that away from her. She was extraordinarily good at it.
06:17She was extraordinarily good at connecting with people as a political communicator.
06:22I think one of the best political communicators Scotland has seen.
06:25I mean, you can question whether that's, you know, a lot of people say that's not what all politics is about.
06:31You've got to also implement policies and take legislation through the Scottish Parliament to enact change.
06:37People would question whether Nicola Sturgeon really did that during her time as First Minister, putting things like the Scottish Child Payment aside.
06:44But she was a formidable politician in her time. And I think, yeah, it's a legacy that will be debated for some years to come.
06:53Certainly one of my overriding memories will be those daily Covid press conferences, Alistair, where she was really the face within Scotland of every update.
07:02And much of the country was tuning in every single day.
07:05It did showcase that political communicator, that strength of hers, as you outlined there.
07:14You'll be able to read the reasons for Nicola Sturgeon standing down, the reaction from others to the announcement, effectively, of her resignation next year.
07:24And also Alistair's thoughts on her legacy at Scotsman.com throughout today.
07:30Please tune in on all the latest. There'll be more to come in that ongoing situation involving the tanker and cargo ship collision in the North Sea.
07:39And we would expect more around the Ukraine peace talks to develop throughout today.
07:44Please tune in to the Scotsman for all the very latest and pick up a copy of the paper tomorrow.
07:49Thanks, Alistair, and thanks to everyone else for joining us.