The police officer in charge of the investigation into the disappearance of Nicola Bulley has revealed she was “high risk” and had “specific vulnerabilities” relating to alcohol. Ms Bulley, 45, disappeared while walking her springer spaniel Willow in the village of St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, after she dropped off her two daughters – aged six and nine – at school on January 27.
Sturgeon admits she has become a ‘polarising’ figure
Less than a month ago, a defiant Nicola Sturgeon announced she had “plenty in the tank” to carry on as SNP leader as she insisted she would lead Scotland to independence. The 2024 general election, she said, would be a de facto referendum on the future of the Union, and a massive show of support for her party would leave Westminster with no choice but to allow another poll.
However, today, Ms Sturgeon admitted she had become a polarising figure for voters, as she formally announced her resignation after eight years in the job.
Gordon Rayner writes that the First Minister’s demise was suddenly fast-tracked by a row that no one saw coming. It was on January 24 that Isla Bryson, a transgender woman, was convicted of raping two women. Despite having committed the rapes as a man, and still having male genitalia, Bryson was sent to a female prison to await sentencing.
Only weeks earlier, the Scottish Parliament had passed a new law, championed by Ms Sturgeon, that allowed trans people to change their legal gender without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria – a move that was blocked by the Westminster government.
Ms Sturgeon said she is of the view that there is now a majority of support for Scottish independence, but that support “needs to be solidified”.
However, Alex Salmond, Ms Sturgeon’s predecessor as Scottish first minister, said there is “no clear strategy” for securing independence and “no obvious successor” to the outgoing SNP leader.
Allister Heath argues that woke extremism has destroyed both Ms Sturgeon and Scottish independence. One Telegraph reader wrote that Ms Sturgeon’s resignation is “Scotland’s real independence day” – you can read the reaction of other readers to the shock news here.
Labour look to launch comeback in Scotland
Senior Labour figures believe Ms Sturgeon’s resignation gives the party an opening to reverse its near decade-long slump in Scotland and help them win Number 10. Since the immediate aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, when Scots voted to stay in the UK, Labour dropped markedly in the polls as the SNP soared.
But with Ms Sturgeon calling time on her leadership, the SNP’s months ahead have been plunged into uncertainty, opening the door further for a Labour comeback.
Our political editor Ben Riley-Smith writes that it could end up helping Sir Keir Starmer in his push to win back Downing Street, with the next UK-wide general election expected in 2024. “It is game on,” one senior figure involved in Labour’s Scottish strategy told The Telegraph after the news broke.
The building blocks of Labour’s attempt to take seats off the SNP are already being put in place – a dozen candidates have been announced, with party figures privately upbeat about the calibre of politicians putting their names forward.
Who is leading the SNP succession race?
Ms Sturgeon’s departure means that the SNP will have its first leadership contest in almost two decades.
A new leader is expected to be announced within the next six to eight weeks following a vote of party members, in a race in which the party’s push for independence will be the crucial issue.
The move threatens to unsettle the party, with Kate Forbes, the party’s finance secretary before she departed on maternity leave, emerging as a frontrunner for the job. Ms Forbes is a member of the Free Church of Scotland, which conforms to a strict interpretation of the Bible, and was rumoured to be sceptical of Scotland’s gender reforms that were blocked by the UK Government.
We take a look at some of the other possible successors here.
