Nicola Sturgeon is to RESIGN as First Minister of Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon is expected to step down as Scottish First Minister today in an explosive move after eight years in power.

The Scottish National Party leader will hold a press conference at her official Bute House residence in Edinburgh at 11am where she is expected to announce her resignation.

Ms Sturgeon has been Prime Minister since 2014, when she replaced Alex Salmond. She but she has been embroiled in growing vitriolic ranks regarding transgender prisoners and their plans to try to force independence.

It is not yet clear whether he will step down immediately or continue in office until a new SNP leader is chosen.

Sources close to the Prime Minister said that “she has had enough.”

Ms Sturgeon will leave office as the longest-serving First Minister and the first woman since the creation of the Scottish Parliament, a time in which she led the SNP to repeated electoral victories at local, Scottish and UK level.

But support for independence is currently down from the 45 per cent registered in the 2014 referendum, according to the latest research from Lord Ashcroft.

Meanwhile, the poll has laid bare the consequences of the SNP’s failed attempt to relax gender identity rules.

Some 54 percent of Scots were against the reshuffle, which was blocked by Westminster.

Worryingly for Ms. Sturgeon, only 3 percent listed it among their top three priorities facing the country, but 46 percent thought it was among the SNP’s top concerns.

The findings come after a separate Panelbase poll released over the weekend suggested that 42 per cent want Ms Sturgeon to retire now.

Ms Sturgeon has vowed to make the upcoming general election a ‘de facto’ referendum on Scottish independence, after the High Court ruled she cannot hold another national vote on the issue without the approval of UK ministers .

However, the idea has been criticized by some in its own ranks, and the latest polls indicate that it does not have strong public support.

More than two-thirds agreed that people voted for parties in the elections for a variety of reasons, and that this could not be construed as support for independence.

Even among SNP supporters, 48 ​​percent acknowledged that an election could not be a de facto referendum, and 44 percent said it could.

The First Minister continues to defend the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill passed by MSPs in December, despite growing unease within her own ranks.

The reorganization would lower the age limit to formally change gender to 16 and eliminate the need for a medical diagnosis.

Ms Sturgeon has said she still intends to challenge the UK government’s use of Section 35 to block the law.

Ms Sturgeon ran into trouble at a press conference last week when she was repeatedly asked if she considered trans rapist Isla Bryson to be a woman.

Bryson was initially sent to a women’s prison before being transferred to the men’s estate following a protest.