Nicola Sturgeon has been – alongside Alex Salmond – a towering figure of the devolution era.
She was his deputy and ally before becoming our longest-serving first minister, holding the post for eight years. Announcing that she is quitting frontline politics seems like the end of an era.
And as she exits the scene, she may look back with regret on how it has all ended. She cut a calm and reassuring figure during the Covid pandemic and was a great communicator – in contrast to bungling and out-of-touch Boris Johnson.
She also stood up to the Tories over their Brexit madness when Labour seemed to wobble on the biggest issue of the age. But the reality is Sturgeon presided over a near-decade of decline.
The NHS is in a much worse state than when she took over, with hundreds of thousands of Scots on waiting lists. She said her priority was slashing the educational attainment gap but she never came close to succeeding.
Drug deaths spiralled, homelessness rose and a housing crisis developed when she was in charge. Part of the reason for these failures was her obsession with a reserved issue – independence. IndyRef2 was never within her gift yet she wasted huge amounts of energy pretending it was on the way.
Even independence supporters have cause to be angry with Sturgeon. They were marched up to the top of the hill before being frogmarched down again on more than one occasion.
She promised IndyRef2 and set dates but always failed to deliver. It was an exercise in time-wasting which has not brought independence any closer. The time spent on gender recognition reform was another bad move that has needlessly divided Scotland.
Trans people deserve dignity and respect but Sturgeon’s handling of the issue jarred with many. She looked foolish when she couldn’t say if the rapist Isla Bryson was a man or a woman. Scotland’s drug deaths crisis also spiralled on her watch – and it was only when the Daily Record exposed the scale of the scandal that she vowed to tackle it.
The departure of Sturgeon and other Holyrood veterans provides an opportunity for all parties to inject fresh blood into their ranks. Public services are on their knees and MSPs must come up with big ideas on schools, hospitals and transport that might actually improve our lives.
We need less on gesture politics and reserved issues and more on what the Scottish Parliament can actually deliver. Devolution has been a success but the past 10 years have seen the country go backwards. Sturgeon’s departure is a watershed moment and the baton must be handed on to a new generation.