Nicola Sturgeon’s Fall from Grace

It’s been nearly a decade since Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom. Over the past ten years, independence has remained an almost singular priority of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Evidently, the party failed to deliver. In February, Nicola Sturgeon, the party leader, stepped down as first minister of Scotland. Now, her legacy and party face even bigger problems: Last week, she was arrested as part of Police Scotland’s ongoing investigation into the SNP’s finances.

Failing to keep your word on a political promise is one thing. Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for a second independence referendum (indyref2), and then failing to account for how the money was spent, is another. The indyref2 campaign was launched after the Brexit vote in March 2017. It began with Sturgeon appearing in a video encouraging nationalists to make donations. The party raked in an initial £482,000. In April 2019, Sturgeon rebooted the fundraising efforts with the website Yes.Scot, bringing the total figure to £666,953 — around $750,000.

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Madeleine Kearns

Madeleine Kearns is a former staff writer at National Review.

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It’s been nearly a decade since Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom. Over the past ten years, independence has remained an almost singular priority of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Evidently, the party failed to deliver. In February, Nicola Sturgeon, the party leader, stepped down as first minister of Scotland. Now, her legacy and party face even bigger problems: Last week, she was arrested as part of Police Scotland’s ongoing investigation into the SNP’s finances.

Failing to keep your word on a political promise is one thing. Raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for a second independence referendum (indyref2), and then failing to account for how the money was spent, is another. The indyref2 campaign was launched after the Brexit vote in March 2017. It began with Sturgeon appearing in a video encouraging nationalists to make donations. The party raked in an initial £482,000. In April 2019, Sturgeon rebooted the fundraising efforts with the website Yes.Scot, bringing the total figure to £666,953 — around $750,000.