Full text: Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech

Below is an edited transcript of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation speech, made this morning at Bute House. Coffee House readers may be interested to note that the words ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my’ are used 153 times in the speech. ‘Scotland’ is only mentioned 11 times.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming along. I’m sorry to break into your half-term break. The First Minister of Scotland is, in my admittedly biased opinion, the very best job in the world. It is a privilege beyond measure, one that has sustained and inspired me in good times and through the toughest hours of my toughest days. I am proud to stand here as the first female and longest serving incumbent of this office, and I’m very proud of what has been achieved in the years I’ve been in Bute House.

However, since my very first moments in the job, I have believed that part of serving well would be to know almost instinctively when the time is right to make way for someone else.