in scotland. it is not clear exactly when she will leave office, but as i say, she has been head of the scottish government for the last eight years. she has been making headlines in recent weeks because of a wider debate on teenagers rights, calling for a wider debate on teenagers rights, she defended plans to allow i6 year olds to change their legal sex. scotland s gender recognition bill that she wanted to introduce into scotland brought her into conflict and a clash with the uk government based in westminster, which blocked scotland plus two gender recognition bill. the secretary of state for scotland alisterjack used a special order known as a section 35 order to prevent that there becoming law on the grounds it would have an adverse impact on the laws. those are laws that apply across scotland, england and wales. that was a claim disputed by the scottish government, butjust to remind you, that gender recognition bill was to allow i6 year olds to change their legal sex
let s start with big news here in the uk. scotland s longest serving first minister, nicola sturgeon, has resigned. she s been the leader of the scottish national party which wants independence from britain for more than eight years. she steered the country through brexit, covid, ukraine, five conservativce prime ministers and enjoyed huge ongoing public support. have a listen to some of what she had to say. in my head and in my heart i know the time is now. let s take a look back at her career. she entered politics full time in 1999 when she was elected to the new scottish parliament. she was twenty nine years old. herfirst big test in government came when she was deputy first minister and health secretary, as swine flu was declared a pandemic. she then oversaw planning for 2014 s independence referendum. the scottish people voted to stay part of the uk but today she said she remained committed to the independence cause. am firmly of the you there is no majority suppor