Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon leaves post after 8 years

Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon, the face of her country’s independence movement for eight years, announces her intention to resign, amid criticism of her drive to make it easier for people to legally change genders.

Sturgeon makes the announcement during a news conference at her official residence in Edinburgh, saying that part of serving well is knowing when to make way for someone else.

“In my head and in my heart I know that time is now,” she tells reporters. “That it’s right for me, for my party and my country.”

Sturgeon, 52, has led Scotland since 2014, when Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. While the referendum was billed as a once-in-a-generation decision on independence, Sturgeon and her Scottish National Party have pushed for a new vote, arguing that Britain’s departure from the European Union had changed the ground rules. The UK government has refused to allow a second referendum.

The first female leader of Scotland said that she had wrestled with the decision to leave, and that it was “not a reaction to short-term pressures.”