SNP leadership race: Five key challenges Scotland’s new first minister will face as Sturgeon’s successor set to be announced
Scotland’s new first minister is set to be announced today.
Nicola Sturgeon’s shock resignation sparked an explosive leadership contest with rows over religious beliefs, arguments about the recollection of past events, and widespread criticism of secrecy surrounding the vote.
The contest has also led to a number of other resignations, including that of Ms Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell as SNP chief executive.
Ash Regan, Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes at a leadership debate in Inverness earlier this month
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and former community safety minister Ash Regan are all in the running for the top job.
Whoever becomes the new SNP leader and first minister will face a number of difficult challenges as they take office.
Here are five of the key priorities that are expected to be at the top of their agenda.
Scottish independence supporters at an All Under One Banner march in Glasgow last year
Defining a clear plan for independence
The campaign for Scottish independence did not stop following the results of the 2014 referendum.
The SNP leadership candidates each believe they can lead Scotland to independence but are yet to define a clear route to indyref2.
A special conference due to be held earlier this month to discuss plans was postponed following Ms Sturgeon’s resignation.
Ms Sturgeon’s preference was to treat the next general election, which will be held no later than 24 January 2025, as a de facto referendum.
The new leader will not be obligated to follow the same course and an alternative could be to treat the next Holyrood election, due in 2026, as a de facto referendum.
However, the UK government refuses to consent to a second referendum and the UK Supreme Court last year ruled that the Scottish parliament cannot legislate for another vote without Westminster approval.
Independence supporters will be keen to hear what the new first minister’s plans are to overcome the block, while those who wish to remain part of the UK will be hoping for another decade of fruitless campaigning.
Protesters took to the streets after the UK government blocked the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill
How to progress with gender recognition reforms
The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill has been a contentious issue within the SNP.
In October last year, Ms Regan quit as community safety minister shortly before MSPs began debating the first stage of the bill. A total of seven SNP MSPs broke the whip to vote against the bill, which would make it easier for trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate.
It then became a constitutional dispute in January when the UK government took the unprecedented step of using section 35 of the Scotland Act to block the bill from receiving royal assent and becoming law.
The new first minister may wish to challenge the intervention in court. The bill could also be dropped altogether or amended to satisfy the UK government.
Mr Yousaf has stated it would be “responsible” to drop a potential legal challenge if the lord advocate believed the Scottish government would lose.
Ms Regan believes any court challenge would fail, while Ms Forbes has previously pledged to amend the legislation to ensure it cannot be blocked again.
Whatever the decision, there will be displeasure from certain camps and allies of the party.
Campaigner Peter Krykant laying a wreath outside the Scottish parliament to mark International Overdose Awareness Day in 2021
Tackling Scotland’s drug deaths shame
Drug misuse continues to blight Scotland’s neighbourhoods.
Official data released last year showed there were 1,330 deaths in 2021 due to drug misuse.
It was the first time in eight years the figure had decreased, but Scotland continues to have the highest drug death rate recorded by any country in Europe.
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Sky’s Beth Rigby was joined by Nicola Sturgeon earlier this month
The Scottish government has been attempting to increase access to rehabilitation and support for problematic drug use, including opening two family rehab centres.
An additional £250m has also been invested to tackle the “drug deaths emergency”.
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The new first minister is being called to back the Scottish Conservatives’ Right to Recovery Bill and see it through parliament.
The proposed legislation would enshrine in law the right of those struggling with addiction to access their preferred method of treatment, unless ruled harmful by a clinician.
Wendy Duncan said Scotland is an ‘EU leader when it comes to drug deaths’
When Sky News visited Scotland’s “Yes” towns and cities to see if the hunger for indyref2 remained, one woman said tackling drug-related deaths should be high on the agenda.
Wendy Duncan, 80, told us that the campaign for independence was a “waste of money and a waste of time”.
She added: “We’re an EU leader when it comes to drug deaths. It’s a scandal and the government should be concentrating on those types of things in Scotland.”
One woman told Sky News that ‘everything is going up in price, except wages’. File pic
Alleviating the cost of living crisis
The country barely emerged from the COVID pandemic before it plunged into a cost of living crisis.
Households are having to spend more on food and general bills and have seen their energy costs soar.
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Inflation takes surprise leap with food and booze costs to blame
Businesses have also been hit. The chip shop industry is just one of many that has been battered recently with the price of fish, cooking oil and energy skyrocketing.
As one Glasgow woman told Sky News: “Everything is going up in price, except wages. The new first minister should make sure the minimum wage goes up.”
Jean Whyte said she fears for those living off benefits and those not in work
In Dundee, Jean Whyte, 66, said she fears for those living off benefits and those not in work.
Ms Whyte said: “[My partner and I] are lucky that we have a wee bit of money behind us. But we used to donate to a food bank every two weeks – that’s now once a month or every six weeks.
“I have heard that a lot of people who used to donate to food banks are now using them.”
Although a pay deal has been accepted, union bosses say this ‘will not solve’ the NHS Scotland staffing crisis
Turning the NHS around
Scotland’s NHS is yet to recover from an extremely difficult winter which saw A&E waiting times reach record levels.
Although A&E performance has improved since the start of the year, key treatment time targets were again missed earlier this month.
NHS 24 staffing has been increased to help cope with the demand and up to £8m is being provided to health boards to alleviate pressure from delayed discharge.
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Scotland is in the grip of an NHS crisis
Unison, GMB and Royal College of Nursing members recently accepted the Scottish government’s pay offer, but union bosses have warned the deal “does nothing to solve” the NHS Scotland staffing crisis.
Patients are said to be “waiting too long for routine operations” and staff are working under “unacceptably stressful conditions”.
Margaret Maguire and Catherine McGroggan said Scotland was ‘suffering’
In West Dunbartonshire, Margaret Maguire and Catherine McGroggan told Sky News that the country was “suffering”.
Ms McGroggan, 73, claimed the Scottish government continues to blame a lot of the NHS’s struggles on the pandemic.
She stated: “That was two years ago, and people are still struggling to get an appointment with a doctor. I’m not online so how is someone on the phone supposed to see my hands if I’ve got an issue with them?”
Ms Maguire, 75, added: “They are playing on the pandemic too much.”
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With all eyes on who becomes the new leader of Scotland, improving results in these key areas will be a crucial challenge for the next first minister.
The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been sentenced to 10 and a half years after he admitted accepting tens of thousands of pounds in cash to make pro-Russian statements to the media and European Parliament.
Nathan Gill had “abused a position of significant authority and trust” and was “motivated by financial and political gain”, said Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb during remarks at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Gill, 52, of Anglesey, North Wales, had previously pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019, corresponding to his time as an MEP.
Nathan Gill is surrounded by media as he arrives at the Old Bailey. Pic: PA
The Old Bailey heard his activities were linked to pro-Russian statements about Ukraine while he was a member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and subsequently the Brexit Party.
Following an investigation by counter-terrorism police, officers said they believe Gill likely took a minimum of £40,000 in cash and was offering to introduce other British MEPs so they could be bribed. Officers also said they believed some individuals in this case had a direct link to Vladimir Putin.
Nathan Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery. Pic: Met Police
Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC previously told the court the bribery offences related to Gill’s association with pro-Russian Oleg Voloshyn, who had been a Ukrainian government official before 2014 and was sanctioned by the UK in 2022.
Gill’s activities emerged in WhatsApp messages after he was stopped at Manchester Airport on 13 September 2021.
He was about to board a flight to Russia to be an observer in elections there.
Bundles of cash recovered
Police said the messages revealed Voloshyn had tasked Gill to make pro-Russian statements on a reward basis. Counter-terrorism officers said the text of some speeches was provided to Gill, which he delivered almost word-for-word.
In other cases, he was paid to offer commentary to news outlets, such as the pro-Russian media organisation 112 Ukraine.
A search of his home in Wales also uncovered thousands in euros and dollars.
Bundles of cash were recovered from Gill’s home. Pic: Met Police
Pic: Met Police
Greed ‘primary motivation’
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, described Gill as being motivated by money.
“It appears… greed was his primary motivation. But I think there’s an element of him that had a pro-Russian stance as well, but only he can answer that question, to be honest with you, he never told us that.”
Gill was interviewed in March 2022 and made no comment. He was charged and appeared in court in February 2025.
Gill said no comment when interviewed by officers in 2022. Pic: Met Police
‘A grave betrayal of trust’
During sentencing, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb described Gill’s offending as “sophisticated” and “a grave betrayal of the trust vested in you by the electorate”.
She told him: “You accepted payments from foreign nationals, made statements on important international matters at their behest, utilised scripted material presented as your own, and orchestrated the involvement of other MPs.
“Your misconduct has ramifications far beyond personal honour, which is now irretrievably damaged. It erodes public confidence in democracy when politicians succumb to financial inducement.”
Gill was paid to offer commentary to pro-Russian media outlet, 112 Ukraine. Pic: Met Police
Other UK politicians at risk
Commander Murphy said that police were continuing to investigate other MEPs, including some from the UK.
“What we do know from the conversations with [Oleg] Voloshyn is that Nathan Gill actually offered his services to contact other MEPs, mostly UK MEPs, to also make statements that might be supportive of a Russian position in Ukraine,” he said.
He added: “I do believe that some of the individuals in this case do have direct connections to Vladimir Putin. And I have no doubt that if we were able to, we could follow this trail and it would lead straight to Moscow.”
Commander Dominic Murphy believes greed was Gill’s primary motivation
Gill led the Welsh wing of UKIP between 2014 and 2016 and was a member of the Senedd between 2016 and 2017.
He was an MEP between 2014 and 2020, but left UKIP in 2019 to join Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – later Reform UK.
Political fallout after prison term
Police have confirmed Nigel Farage has not been part of this investigation, but political rivals have called on the Reform UK leader to launch a thorough investigation.
Defence minister Al Carns, a former colonel in the Royal Marines, said Gill’s actions were “a disgrace”. He added: “I just think wherever we see Russian influence in UK politics, it’s got to be weeded out.”
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Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said “a traitor was at the very top of Reform UK”, referring to Gill, but also launched a direct attack on Mr Farage by calling him, and his party, “a danger to national security”.
“Nigel Farage himself was previously paid to be on Putin’s TV channel, Russia Today, and said he was the world leader he admires the most.
“We must all ask – where do his loyalties really lie? We need a full investigation into Russian interference in our politics,” he said.
Reform UK, which previously kicked Gill out of the party, said in a statement: “Mr Gill’s actions were reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable. We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received.”
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, welcomed Gill’s jail sentence “for his acts of betrayal in taking bribes from Russia”.
In a statement, she said: “If the former Reform UK leader in Wales was part of a broader, co-ordinated effort to advance Moscow’s agenda within our democratic institutions, then the public deserves to know the full truth, and how far Russian money and influence reached into Nigel Farage’s inner circle.”
Britons buying cocaine on a Friday night could be inadvertently funding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The National Crime Agency has revealed a billion-dollar money laundering network is operating in 28 towns and cities across the UK.
Couriers collect “dirty” cash generated from drugs, firearms and immigration gangs, which is then converted into cryptocurrency.
Officials say these illicit transactions have a direct link to “geopolitical events causing suffering around the world”.
This network was first exposed because of Operation Destabilise – and to date, 128 arrests have been made, with more than £25m in cash and digital assets seized.
A poster put up in motorway service station toilets by the NCA. Pic: PA
According to the NCA, the enterprise is so prolific that it purchased a bank to facilitate payments that supported Russia’s military efforts and helped sidestep sanctions.
Posters have been put up in motorway service stations to target couriers, which warn it is “just a matter of time” before they will be arrested.
The NCA’s deputy director for economic crime, Sal Melki, has warned the threat posed by this money laundering network is significant.
He added: “Cash couriers play an intrinsic role in this global scheme. They are in our communities and making the criminal ecosystem function – because if you cannot profit from your crimes, why bother.
“They are paid very little for the risks they take and face years in prison, while those they work for enjoy huge profits.”
Mr Melki went on to warn that “easy money leads to hard time” – and earning just a few hundred pounds through laundering could lead to years behind bars.
Sal Melki
The NCA says Operation Destabilise has already had an impact in criminal circles, with some members of the network now reluctant to operate in London.
Those involved in the money laundering effort have also started to charge higher fees – reflecting the difficulty of cleaning ill-gotten gains.
Cryptocurrencies are often regarded as a haven for criminals because they are perceived to be anonymous, but it is possible to trace these transactions.
Chainalysis is a company that monitors suspicious activity on blockchains, a type of database that keeps records of who sends and receives digital assets – as well as how much.
Its vice president of communications Madeleine Kennedy told Sky News: “Public blockchains are transparent by design, which makes cryptocurrencies a poor vehicle for money laundering.
“With the right tools, law enforcement can trace illicit funds – whether they’re connected to drug trafficking, sanctions evasion, or cybercrime – and use those insights to disrupt networks and recover assets.”
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Ekatarina Zhdanova. Pic: NCA
Last December, a global investigation led by the NCA smashed two networks whose money laundering activities were prevalent in 30 countries.
Bundles of cash were seized during raids, with detectives describing Smart and TGR as the invisible link between “Russian elites, crypto-rich cybercriminals and drug gangs in the UK”.
One of the network’s ringleaders, a Russian national called Ekatarina Zhdanova, is currently in custody in France and awaiting trial for separate financial offences.
Security minister Dan Jarvis added: “This complex operation has exposed the corrupt tactics Russia used to avoid sanctions and fund its illegal war in Ukraine.
“We are working tirelessly to detect, disrupt and prosecute anyone engaging in activity for a hostile foreign state. It will never be tolerated on our streets.”
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