Nicola finally gets her independence! Sturgeon completes her last official engagement as Scotland's First Minister after eight years in power and ahead of her SNP successor being announced on Monday
- Departing SNP leader opens £33m treatment centre in Kirkcaldy, Fife in final act
Nicola Sturgeon today admitted to feeling 'a wee bit terrified' as she completed her final official engagement as Scotland's First Minister.
The departing SNP leader, who has spent more than eight years in office, opened a £33million treatment centre in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in her final act as First Minister.
It came 24 hours after she made her last appearance in the Scottish Parliament, when she was given a standing ovation in the Holyrood chamber.
Ms Sturgeon's successor as SNP leader is due to be announced on Monday afternoon and they will officially be installed as new first minister on Tuesday.
She stunned Scottish politics with her bombshell resignation last month and has since seen the SNP succumb to bitter infighting over the contest to replace her.
A fierce internal row has also led to her husband, Peter Murrell, quitting his powerful role as the SNP's chief executive.
Nicola Sturgeon today admitted to feeling 'a wee bit terrified' as she completed her final official engagement as Scotland's First Minister
The departing SNP leader, who has spent more than eight years in office, opened a £33million treatment centre in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in her final act as First Minister
Ms Sturgeon's successor as SNP leader is due to be announced on Monday afternoon and they will officially be installed as new first minister on Tuesday.
The National Treatment Centre in Kirkcaldy is intended to address the backlog of planned care exacerbated by the Covid pandemic
Speaking in Kirkcaldy, where she opened the National Treatment Centre for orthopaedic surgery at the Victoria Hospital, Ms Sturgeon said she was '100 per cent certain' that her resignation was 'the right thing'.
'Of course I've got mixed emotions, this is a job like no other,' the outgoing First Minister, who previously spent the best part of eight years as deputy first minister, told Heart radio.
'I've loved it, it's been really hard - I've led Scotland through the toughest period for all of us in our recent history.
'Stepping away from that is a wrench, the adjustment after 16 years in government to not being in government is going to be, I guess, really difficult.'
Ms Sturgeon noted how Wednesday morning will be 'the first time in 16 years I will wake up with no government responsibilities'.
'I don't yet know what I'm going to do - maybe have a lie in, I've taken up hill walking, maybe go for a walk up a hill somewhere,' she added.
'So if I was to sum up how I'm feeling right now, it's excited and a wee bit terrified in equal measure.'
Either Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes or former community safety minister Ash Regan will become Ms Sturgeon's successor next week.
Around 72,000 SNP members have been voting since 13 March to choose which of the trio should take over the reins of their party.
The ballot will close at noon on Monday and the victor will be announced shortly afterwards.
Mr Yousaf, a close ally of Ms Sturgeon, is the bookies' odds-on favourite to become the new SNP leader.
But he will face an immediate challenge in maintaining the coalition between the SNP and Scottish Greens at Holyrood.
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has warned his party could pull out of the powersharing deal if the Scottish Government, under a new SNP leader, tried to row back on their 2021 Bute House Agreement.
Both Ms Forbes and Ms Regan have failed to publicly back Holyrood's controversial gender identity reforms, which the Scottish Greens support, while a deposit return scheme could also be a challenge to the deal.
All three candidates have pledged to change or pause the legislation aimed at encouraging greater recycling of bottles and cans.
It came 24 hours after Ms Sturgeon made her last appearance in the Scottish Parliament, when she was given a standing ovation in the Holyrood chamber
Either Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf (left), Finance Secretary Kate Forbes (middle) or former community safety minister Ash Regan (right) will become Ms Sturgeon's successor
The National Treatment Centre in Kirkcaldy is intended to address the backlog of planned care exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and further centres are due to open this year in NHS Highland, NHS Forth Valley and at the Golden Jubilee Hospital.
'We are determined to ensure people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible, so I am pleased to officially open the Fife centre, which will give people across the country faster access to life-changing orthopaedic surgery,' Ms Sturgeon said.
'The additional capacity provided through this new state-of-the-art facility will also help cut the backlog of planned care worsened by the global pandemic.
'With three further NTCs opening this year, I am confident this programme will be a significant boost to the NHS as it recovers from Covid.'
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