Following Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s February 15 announcement of her resignation, the race for both the leadership of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scotland as a country began. Although political pundits have singled out Cabinet Secretary Kate Forbes as a potential successor, Forbes’ Presbyterian beliefs and opposition to LGBTQ+ and other liberal ideologies have provoked leftist assaults on her character and ability to lead the nation. Thus, another very likely candidate to succeed Sturgeon has been Scottish Health Minister Humza Yousaf, who likely has links both to the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups.
For eight years, Nicola Sturgeon’s name could not be separated from the SNP. That being said, Sturgeon leaves behind a controversial legacy amid her contentious bid for a second independence referendum in the wake of Brexit. Observers posited that the reasons contributing to Sturgeon’s downfall were leftist measures such as her radical “green” initiatives as well as her notorious Gender Bill that planned to permit those as young as 16 to change their gender without prior surgery or a gender dysphoria diagnosis.