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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Right Honourable

Nicola Sturgeon

MSP

Official portrait, 2021

First Minister of Scotland

In office

20 November 2014 – 28 March 2023

Monarchs Elizabeth II

Charles III

Deputy John Swinney

Preceded by Alex Salmond

Succeeded by Humza Yousaf

Leader of the Scottish National Party

In office

14 November 2014 – 27 March 2023

Depute

Stewart Hosie

Angus Robertson

Keith Brown

Preceded by Alex Salmond

Succeeded by Humza Yousaf

Deputy First Minister of Scotland

In office

17 May 2007 – 20 November 2014

First Minister Alex Salmond

Preceded by Nicol Stephen

Succeeded by John Swinney

Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party

In office

3 September 2004 – 14 November 2014

Leader Alex Salmond

Preceded by Roseanna Cunningham

Succeeded by Stewart Hosie

Ministerial offices

Parliamentary offices

Personal details

Born Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon

19 July 1970 (age 54)

Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland

Political party Scottish National Party

Spouse Peter Murrell

​

​(m. 2010; sep. 2025)​

Parents

Robin Sturgeon

Joan Kerr Ferguson

Alma mater University of Glasgow

Cabinet

1st2nd3rd

Signature

Website Parliament website

Nicola Sturgeon's voice

Duration: 10 minutes and 48 seconds.10:48

Sturgeon's last statement in the Scottish Parliament as First Minister

Recorded 23 March 2023

This article is part of

a series about

Nicola Sturgeon

Political positionsElectoral historyMSP for GlasgowMSP for Glasgow Southside

Deputy First Minister of Scotland (2004–2014)

Leader of the SNP (2014–2023)

2014 leadership election

First Minister of Scotland (2014–2023)

PremiershipInternational trips

First Ministry

Revenue Scotland LBTTSLfTCommunity right to buy

Second Ministry

2016 electionProposed second independence referendumBrexit referendum People's VoteSocial Security ScotlandScottish National Investment BankAlex Salmond scandalCOVID-19 pandemic

Third Ministry

2021 electionBute House AgreementCOP26Ferry fiascoOperation BranchformCost of living crisis Bin worker strikesScotRail strikes2023 proposed referendum 2022 Supreme Court referralGender reform billResignation 2023 leadership election

UK General elections

201520172019

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Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who served as first minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) from 2014 to 2023.[1][2] She has served as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 1999, first as an additional member for the Glasgow electoral region, and as the member for Glasgow Southside (formerly Glasgow Govan) from 2007.

Born in Ayrshire, Sturgeon is a law graduate of the University of Glasgow. She worked as a solicitor in Glasgow before her election to the Scottish Parliament in 1999. She served successively as the SNP's shadow minister for education, health, and justice. Sturgeon entered the leadership of the SNP but later withdrew from the contest in favour of Alex Salmond, standing instead as depute leader on a joint ticket with Salmond. Both were subsequently elected; as Salmond was still an MP, Sturgeon led the SNP in the Scottish Parliament as Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2007. The SNP emerged as the largest party following the 2007 election and Salmond headed the first SNP minority government, with Sturgeon as his deputy. From 2007 to 2012, she served as health secretary, overseeing the scrapping of prescription charges and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Following the SNP's landslide majority in 2011, she was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities, which saw her in charge of the legislative process for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The defeat of the Yes Scotland campaign resulted in Salmond's resignation as SNP leader.

Sturgeon was elected unopposed as SNP leader in November 2014 and was subsequently appointed as first minister, becoming the first woman to hold either position.[3][4] She entered office amid a rapid surge in membership of the SNP, which was reflected in the party's performance in the 2015 general election, winning 56 of the 59 Scottish seats and replacing the Liberal Democrats as the third-largest party in the House of Commons. The SNP continued to enjoy electoral successes throughout Sturgeon's nine years in office, but lost 21 seats in the 2017 general election. Despite losing her majority, Sturgeon secured a second term in office in 2016, forming a minority government.

Sturgeon led the Scottish Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing a series of restrictions on social gatherings and the rollout of the vaccine programme. A seat short of a majority in 2021, Sturgeon became the only first minister to serve a third term, and she subsequently entered a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens. The calls from Sturgeon's government and the wider independence movement for a second referendum were unsuccessful, as successive Conservative prime ministers refused to grant a Section 30 order. From 2022, Sturgeon received heavier criticism for her positions on gender reforms. On 15 February 2023, Sturgeon resigned the leadership of the SNP claiming occupational burnout; she was succeeded by her health secretary, Humza Yousaf, the following month. In March 2025, she announced she would stand down as an MSP at the next Scottish Parliament election, expected to be held in 2026.[5]

Early life and education

Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon[6] was born in Ayrshire Central Hospital in Irvine on 19 July 1970.[7] She is the eldest of two daughters born to Joan Kerr Sturgeon (née Ferguson, born 23 October 1952[8]), a dental nurse, and Robin Sturgeon (born 28 September 1948[9]), an electrician.[10][11] Her younger sister, Gillian Sturgeon, is an NHS worker.[12] Her family has some roots in North East England; her paternal grandmother, Margaret Sturgeon (née Mill), was from Ryhope in what is now the City of Sunderland.[13] Her grandmother married Robert Sturgeon, a gardener from Ayr, at St Paul's Parish Church in 1943, and they both eventually moved back to the south west of Scotland. Sturgeon grew up in Prestwick and in the village of Dreghorn, in a terraced council house, which her parents bought through the right-to-buy scheme.[14]

Sturgeon was a quiet child and has been described by her younger sister as "the sensible one" of the two.[15] Sturgeon was shy and has said that she "much preferred to sit with my head in a book than talking to people".[15] She developed a passion for books and reading which continued into adult life. She has described herself as being an "austere" teen whose style tended towards goth, adding that "if you see pictures of me back then, you would struggle to know whether I was a boy or a girl".[15] Sturgeon was a fan of Wham! and Duran Duran, and enjoyed spending Saturday nights at Frosty's Ice Disco in Irvine.[citation needed]

Sturgeon attended Dreghorn Primary School from 1975 to 1982 and Greenwood Academy from 1982 to 1988.[citation needed] She later studied law at the University of Glasgow School of Law, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) in 1992 and a Diploma in Legal Practice the following year.[citation needed] During her time at the University of Glasgow she was active as a member of the Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association and the Glasgow University Students' Representative Council.[citation needed]

Legal career