Nicola Sturgeon

Ms Sturgeon will be succeeded as first minister by either Kate Forbes, Humza Yousaf or Ash Regan when the SNP leadership race comes to an end on Monday.

"The First Minister and Deputy First Minister, in turn, thanked colleagues for their unstinting backing - and also made clear they will continue to offer their support from the backbenches as a new generation takes up the baton to take Scotland forward and complete the country's journey to independence." A spokesman for the First Minister said after the meeting: "Today's Cabinet allowed colleagues to thank the First Minister and Deputy First Minister for their tireless commitment to public service and to making Scotland a better country for all of those who call this nation home. According to a readout from the First Minister's office, Cabinet ministers paid tribute to the service of both her and Deputy First Minister John Swinney during the meeting - which Ms Sturgeon said was the 637th under an SNP Government.

The SNP leader said it has been 'a privilege beyond words' to serve as First Minister of Scotland.

“But I want to have more time in this next phase of my life to find out who Nicola Sturgeon the person is.” And on Monday, she said she wanted to find out who “Sturgeon the person is”. She said: “I joined the SNP when I was 16, I’ve been in parliament since I was 29, I became deputy first minister when I was 37, I will be 53 this summer. Responding to her post, John Swinney said: “To serve Scotland has been the privilege of my life.” Taking to social media on Tuesday, Sturgeon said it has been “a privilege beyond words” to serve as the country’s leader. Sharing a picture showing the two laughing, Sturgeon said: “This morning I chaired my last meeting of

The inquiry will hold hearings in Scotland early next year as part of Baroness Hallett's investigation into the response to the virus.

He said: “It is going well and ministers are committed to that process.” Baroness Hallett said she could not control the publication of the messages, but said the inquiry was “in the process of obtaining all relevant WhatsApp messages from all relevant groups”. The Scottish hearings in the UK-wide inquiry will be heard from January 15 next year.

The First Minister will speak at hearings in Scotland about the pandemic which claimed the lives of thousands of people across the country.

“All of those who are involved in this module are working on familiarising themselves with the issues which faced Scotland in the pandemic and the investigation of the Scottish decisions which this module involves, all within the framework of a larger UK inquiry,” he said. Mr Dawson told the virtual hearing: “It is intended that individual rule nine requests will be issued in Module 2a to the First Minister of Scotland, the Deputy First Minister, and to the Secretary of State to Scotland, and to multiple Cabinet secretaries of the Scottish Government who played roles in high level political and administrative decisions with which this module is concerned.” The Scottish senior counsel to the inquiry, Jamie Dawson KC, said the Sturgeon will be among politicians and officials to be issued with a Rule Nine request.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is to hold hearings in Scotland early next year as part of Baroness Heather Hallett's investigation into parts of the virus response by ...

He said: “It is going well and ministers are committed to that process.” She said the group was “aware of several critical press articles and unhelpful interventions by politicians in the last few weeks in relation to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry”, and added it thought the Scottish and UK inquiries were the only place for the deaths to be “robustly and transparently investigated”. Baroness Hallett said she could not control the publication of the messages, but said the inquiry was “in the process of obtaining all relevant WhatsApp messages from all relevant groups”. “All of those who are involved in this module are working on familiarising themselves with the issues which faced Scotland in the pandemic and the investigation of the Scottish decisions which this module involves, all within the framework of a larger UK inquiry,” he said. Dawson told the virtual hearing: “It is intended that individual rule nine requests will be issued in Module 2a to the First Minister of Scotland, the Deputy First Minister, and to the Secretary of State to Scotland, and to multiple Cabinet secretaries of the Scottish Government who played roles in high level political and administrative decisions with which this module is concerned.” “In addition, a proposed list of witnesses for the oral hearings will be issued to core participants in due course,” he said.

The outgoing First Minister and her former Health Secretary will have to give evidence to the UK-wide Covid Inquiry looking at decisions they made during ...

[Read it here in full: the letter reporting Nicola Sturgeon and Jeane Freeman to police over Covid deaths](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/read-here-full-letter-reporting-29345282) [Sturgeon and Freeman ignored our warnings... And it will also explore the deadly blunders in Scotland's care homes which caused the deaths of thousands of residents. “In addition, a proposed list of witnesses for the oral hearings will be issued to core participants in due course,” he said. He said: “It is going well and ministers are committed to that process.” Sign up to our daily newsletter now they will be reported to cops TODAY for 'corporate manslaughter' deaths during Covid pandemic](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/nicola-sturgeon-jeane-freeman-reported-29337952) [Fears of a 'cover up' as Scottish and UK Covid inquiries agree to share scrutiny of SNP pandemic decisions](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/fears-cover-up-scottish-uk-29292257) [Former chair of SNP's Covid-19 inquiry raised concerns about 'slow progress' and 'reputational damage'](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/former-chair-snps-covid-19-29028368) [For the latest politics news, click here](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/) [The Scottish version has yet to properly get off the ground due to the resignation of previous chairwoman Lady Poole.](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/troubled-scottish-covid-inquiry-splash-28862287) Mr Dawson told the virtual hearing: “It is intended that individual rule nine requests will be issued in Module 2a to the First Minister of Scotland, the Deputy First Minister, and to the Secretary of State to Scotland, and to multiple Cabinet secretaries of the Scottish Government who played roles in high level political and administrative decisions with which this module is concerned.” [Nicola Sturgeon ](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/all-about/nicola-sturgeon)will be forced to give evidence at the UK-wide [Covid](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/all-about/coronavirus) Inquiry early next year as it will probe her decision-making in Scotland. The Scottish hearings in the UK-wide inquiry will be heard from January 15 next year. On Tuesday, Jamie Dawson KC, the Scottish senior counsel to the inquiry, said the First Minister will be among politicians and officials to be issued with a Rule Nine request. The UK-wide Covid Inquiry is running separately to one in Scotland, although it will hold hearings north of the border in January next year.

Alex Salmond said it was 'unnecessary and inappropriate' for the Lord Advocate to attend Cabinet unless there was a specific legal issue to be discussed.

As expected, the justices rejected her case out of hand and even delivered a somewhat humiliating takedown of the Lord Advocate's arguments. ['The First Minister made me do it!' Lord Advocate mocked after blaming Sturgeon for Supreme Court submission](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/comment/the-first-minister-made-it-28227372) [Lord Natsmasher! Namely, that Scotland's chief prosecutor has a dual and often conflicting role as the Scottish Government's legal officer. According to Ms Sturgeon, this was 637th cabinet under an SNP Government. Before him, Elish Angiolini attended only 28 cabinets in four years. There are no biscuits and everyone is drinking a glass of tap water, apart from Permanent Secretary JP Marks who has a cup of weak tea. UK Supreme Court has destroyed Nicola Sturgeon's political credibility](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/comment/lord-natsmasher-uk-supreme-court-28563215) [Alex Salmond tears into Nicola Sturgeon's failings as she becomes longest serving First Minister](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/alex-salmond-indyre2-nicola-sturgeon-27035277) [For the latest politics news click here](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/) I can't help thinking that she is not enjoying being caught on camera alongside her government colleagues. "That will emphasise the apolitical and professional role that the Lord Advocate and I have agreed is appropriate in the provision of legal advice to Government." For her part, Ms Bain (as well as dealing the police investigation into the SNP) was expected to argue at the UK Supreme Court that the Scottish Government should be allowed to hold a legally binding referendum. He said: "The involvement of the law officers in the political operations of Government is, in my view, unnecessary and inappropriate, so I have decided that the Lord Advocate will not be a member of the Cabinet and will not normally attend meetings. [John Swinney](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/all-about/john-swinney) and they can't stretch to a few glasses of wine from the [well-stocked Bute House cellars](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/taxpayers-pick-up-5k-wine-26087781)?

And now, the FM has chaired her last Cabinet meeting in Bute House, Edinburgh, where Cabinet Secretaries “took time to reflect and pay thanks” to the FM and ...

[DFM](https://nnn.ng/tag/dfm/) also paid tribute to the many civil servants who had helped and supported them over the years. We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. The FM is expected to offer an apology to women who were forced to give up their babies for adoption due to being unmarried on Wednesday, followed by FMQs on Thursday and then a final speech to Holyrood shortly afterward. [](https://nnn.ng/#:~:text=blogger outreach us) In a readout of the FM’s final Cabinet meeting, Sturgeon told her ministers that she had calculated the meeting was the 637th cabinet under the SNP Government. She added that one of her proudest achievements discussed around the Cabinet table related to minimum unit pricing (MUP).

Andy Wightman, who sat on the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints, says he will write to Holyrood's presiding officer in ...

A Scottish Parliament spokeswoman said: "The confidentiality rules that MSPs must abide by are set out Section 7 of the Code of Conduct for MSPs. All of which leads me to conclude that it was the SNP which stood to benefit from the leak, as it provided an excuse to trash the Committee, its opposition members and, by extension its report and conclusions." A spokesperson for Ms Sturgeon also pitched in, accusing the committee of "baseless assertion, supposition and smear" A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said it was a party issue. He alleges a "plan was devised that, for reasons of plausible deniability, was never shared beyond a very small circle of advisers and certainly not with the First Minister." And he reckons the "plan was a success," adding: "The reputation of myself and my opposition colleagues was in the gutter. They can then conduct a systematic demolition job on the Committee’s conclusions, since the rules on confidentiality no longer apply." However, Mr Wightman says he was personally cleared of any wrongdoing by the Ethical Standards Commissioner, although he says his own complaints about statements made by three SNP MSPs at the time were also dismissed. The Committee's recommendations would have to be dealt with one way or another on the following Tuesday." [SNP](https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/all-about/snp) MSPs on the committee looked to "trash" the committee before the report was made public. However, within minutes of the final report being signed off, Sky News was reporting details from it, including the fact Ms Sturgeon had 'misled' the committee. The Committee’s reputation was in tatters and its conclusions derided."

Nicola Sturgeon highlighted minimum unit pricing for alcohol as one of the policies of which she was most proud as she chaired her 637th and final cabinet ...

[Kate Forbes, Humza Yousaf or Ash Regan ](https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/snp-leadership-debate-latest-news-forbes-regan-yousaf-scotland-dghr0xgkx)when the SNP leadership race comes to an end on Monday. Yousaf was the only one of the three candidates to attend the meeting at Bute House, the first minister’s residence in Nicola Sturgeon highlighted minimum unit pricing for alcohol as one of the policies of which she was most proud as she chaired her 637th and final cabinet meeting before leaving office next week.

Little Harvey Martin suffers from an agonising curvature on his spine that requires immediate medical intervention.

We are speaking to NHS Lothian on Harvey’s behalf and are seeking urgent assurances on his care. “We remain focussed on working with NHS Boards to end long waits, which have been exacerbated by the impacts of the global pandemic. The last time I heard he was fifth on the waiting list but there have been so many cancellations he could be waiting another five months. Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman said: “We raised Harvey Martin’s case at First Minister’s Questions after his consultant, Dr Chris Adams, spoke out about the horrendous impact that the NHS crisis is having on patients. He was crying a couple of weeks ago and said ‘I just want to be normal. It’s unbearable.” And she admitted: “My family is at breaking point.” Harvey is also waiting to go to see a respiratory consultant because he has a recurring cough. Harvey couldn’t travel abroad and Dr Adams is one of the top spinal consultants in Scotland.” After surgery he won’t be able to walk for two to three months. He said: “It stops me from doing my swimming lessons and going to school. He said Sturgeon “needs to do something about this”. And after a recent growth spurt his mum believes it has increased again.

Nicola Sturgeon will be ordered to provide evidence to the UK public inquiry into the Covid pandemic response after her government sent untested patients ...