Nicola Sturgeon resignation: How the world reacted to the First Minister's announcement, with claims ‘her legacy in Scotland is disputed’

Nicola Sturgeon’s “strong leadership” has been praised, but her ultimate legacy was questioned as world leaders reacted to her decision to stand down after eight years as First Minister.

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon as a “very capable politician” and “warm person”, while his foreign affairs minister Micheal Martin praised her “strong leadership”.

Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives in the US, said Ms Sturgeon “strongly championed the aspirations of the Scottish people”, pointing to her environmental policies, as well as her strategy for welcoming Ukrainian refugees and her “special focus on gender equality in the climate fight”.

She said: “First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has earned respect and admiration from all over the globe for her strong, values-driven leadership.”

Nicola Sturgeon, attends European Election campaign launch with the six candidates at Dynamic Earth on May 9, 2019 in Edinburgh

Ms Sturgeon announced her resignation on Wednesday morning, saying she wanted to “spend a bit of time on Nicola Sturgeon the person, the human being”. Although foreign policy is generally not devolved to Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon has made her views on some international issues clear and has worked to make Scotland’s voice heard on the international stage.

Mr Varadkar said: “I always found Nicola a very warm person, articulate and thoughtful, and a very capable politician, who showed huge commitment to her country. She was also a true European. I wish Nicola and her family the very best for the future."

Pro-independence parties elsewhere also paid tribute to Ms Sturgeon’s time in office.

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of Parti Quebecois, a separatist party in the French speaking Canadian province of Quebec, told The Scotsman: “Leading a people to their freedom is a collective and very demanding mission. I want to emphasise all my admiration for Ms Sturgeon, whose work has made it possible to unite around the ‘Yes’, so that Scotland is currently on the way to achieving independence. Thanks to her for all these years of commitment.”

However, media around the globe reacted differently, with some international commentators warning Ms Sturgeon's departure marked the end of independence for Scotland.

"Sturgeon loosens the reins of power at a moment of discouragement within Scottish independence,” said Spanish newspaper El Pais’ UK correspondent Rafa de Miguel, referring to the decision to block a second independence referendum. “The jug of cold water of the Supreme Court made the leader of the SNP realise that the citizens, the electorate and the members of her party were only willing to follow her in her adventure up to halfway.”

Writing in Italian newspaper Carierre Della Sera, Luigi Ippolito said: "Her legacy in Scotland is disputed – Sturgeon has been lauded for her leadership during the pandemic, even if it was more about excellent communication skills than effective management of the pandemic emergency. But by definition, the success of an independence leader is measured by the ability to reach that goal: and Nicola Sturgeon missed it.”

Ms Sturgeon has been admired for her tenacity in keeping Scotland on the global radar. She digressed from UK Government policy on Scotland’s super sponsor scheme for refugees – allowing Ukrainians fleeing the war to list the Scottish Government as their host to obtain a UK Government Homes for Ukraine visa. The scheme, which was suspended indefinitely in July last year, has seen almost 19,000 Ukrainian refugees arrive in Scotland since war broke out a year ago, as well as a further 4,000 on named sponsors.

She has also established a network of seven "international offices” of the Scottish Government housed within British Embassy and High Commission buildings in Beijing, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Ottawa, Paris and Washington DC. An eighth was due to be set up in Warsaw, Poland, within this Parliament. However, she came under fire for paying a visit to Copenhagen in August last year to officially open the Nordic office there, amid bin strikes in Edinburgh and the threat of teaching union strikes over the ongoing pay dispute.

Ms Sturgeon has often compared the Nordic countries, particularly Finland, to Scotland, adopting policies such as free baby boxes for all expectant mothers.

In November, she said she wanted to see an independent Scotland become a non-nuclear member of Nato, while she has strongly expressed her view on Scotland re-joining the European Union, if it was to become an independent country.

During COP26, she held meetings with heads of state from around the world, speaking with leaders including Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Ms Sturgeon often cited her aim for Scotland to be world leading in its climate change policies, not least its “just transition" to net zero, for which is set targets ahead of the rest of the UK.

At the time, US newspaper The Washington Post described her as “scrappy”, for the way she positioned herself at the event, despite the UK Government’s attempts to keep her away.

The newspaper's London correspondent, Karla Adam, wrote: "Sturgeon is scrappy. She carved out a role for herself on the sidelines of the United Nations summit, touting Scotland’s green credentials and also, sometimes more subtly than others, reminding people that Scotland is a semi-autonomous nation – something she’d like to change."

Ms Sturgeon’s leadership has been linked with that of her New Zealand counterpart, former prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who announced her own resignation just three weeks ago, citing “burnout”. Her country is one which has been a direct comparison for Ms Sturgeon for some time, with its similar sized population and female leader.

Yet, in an interview directly after Ms Ardern's resignation, Ms Sturgeon insisted she was not going to follow in the New Zealand politician’s footsteps.

“If I ever reach the point which she has clearly reached, where I just think overall I can’t give the job everything it deserves, then I hope I have the same courage she has had in saying ‘OK, this is the point to go’,” she said.

“But just for the avoidance of all doubt, I don’t feel anywhere near that right now, nowhere near.”