First Minister resigns – Northern Isles MP responds

Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, responds to news that the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will resign:

“Whatever else there is to be said, Nicola Sturgeon was clearly an enormous political talent. To have served in the Scottish Parliament since 1999 and become the longest serving First Minister is no small feat.

“We shall now never know what might have been achieved in health, education, policing or transport if that had been where she had focussed her attention rather than on pursuing nationalist division. Her government was politically successful, but fell flat on delivery time and again. Educational attainment and NHS results flatlined or went backwards under her watch while drug deaths soared. Nothing is so symbolic of her time in office than that a CalMac ferry she “launched” in 2017, in the first half of her time in office, will still not be in service by the time she leaves six years later.

“The biggest legacy that Nicola Sturgeon has is her success in maintaining and entrenching identity divides in Scotland. I hope that this will be an opportunity to move on from the nationalism and division of the past years – and reach a government that takes actual governing more seriously.”

ENDS