Scunnered: Nicola Sturgeon's resignation will terrify the Conservatives
The resignation of Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland’s first minister last week will serve as yet another hammer blow to the electoral chances of the Conservatives at any future general election.
Incidentally, whatever your views may be of Nicola Sturgeon, her record or on the broader issue of Scottish independence, it is indisputable that she has remained a formidable and hugely consequential figure in British politics, having been at the forefront of every British political movement for nearly a decade.
It carries a certain degree of respect when you can say that you have outlasted 4 Conservative Prime Ministers - although, bearing in mind the context, that probably says far more about the dysfunction [that continues to this very day] among Conservatives themselves.
It remains unclear how much Sturgeon’s departure will impact on the outcome of any future referendum on independence in Scotland - or if, indeed, there is one at all depending on the success of whoever replaces her.
Apropos of nothing, this page feels it won’t make any material difference in the long run - whether it succeeds or not, Scottish independence (as a movement, as an idea) goes beyond the role of a single politician, and there’s no sense that that feeling will dissipate any time soon. Just ask the Romans; when they were encountered by naked men (and women), painted blue, hurling rocks and abuse at them, they built walls.
The disjuncture between much of Westminster and most places North of Carlisle and Berwick-Upon-Tweed, I gather, is not that much different in 2023 from when it was around 120AD.