Nicola Sturgeon says time is right to resign as Scotland's first minister

'Liable to removal'

Robert Palmer KC told the court millions of EU citizens living in the UK risked losing their rights and being treated as "illegal overstayers" as a result.

"I get up in the morning and I tell myself, and usually I convince myself, that I've got what it takes to keep going and keep going and keep going," she said.

"But then I realise that that's maybe not as true." She said there were two questions - whether carrying on was right for her, and whether it was right for country, her party and the cause of independence.

"Since the very first moment 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," she said. "And when that time came, to have the courage to do so, even if many across the country, and in my party, might feel it too soon.

"In my head and in my heart I know that time is now. That it is right for me, for my party and for the country. "And so today I am announcing my intention to step down as first minister and leader of my party." The first minister said she had been struggling with conflicting emotions since around the turn of the year.

Ms Sturgeon said the answer to both questions was no. "We are at a critical moment," she said. "The blocking of a referendum as the accepted, constitutional route to independence is a democratic outrage. "But it puts the onus on us to decide how Scottish democracy will be protected and to ensure that the will of the Scottish people prevails."