Scotland's former first minister Nicola Sturgeon leaves behind a toxic legacy
On the left, Nicola Sturgeon is seen as something of a political hero. That makes sense… but only if you exclude her actual record in office

Nicola Sturgeon has a book out?
Yes. But given the publishers reportedly shelled out a £300,000 advance for a memoir titled Frankly, there are disappointingly few revelations in Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir. And whether you thrill to the words of Scotland’s former first minister or find them risible will be a matter of taste and ideology, for she is a divisive figure. Supporters laud her as straightforward and honest; opponents criticise her as arrogant, condescending and implacably hostile to all those whose views she doesn’t share. Former SNP MP Joanna Cherry, for example, a barrister who fiercely opposed Sturgeon’s gender reforms, is brutal when it comes to documenting her ex-leader’s failings on domestic policy – including health, education, poverty and transport – and, of course, the failure to secure independence. “She repeatedly promised a second referendum she knew she could not deliver, issuing a never-ending list of dates and targets which she missed,” says Cherry in the Scottish Daily Mail. “She marched her troops up and down the hill until many of them deserted in disgust.”
Is that fair?
In part, yes. Sturgeon won eight successive elections as SNP leader, but left her party in a chaotic mess – watching it sink to defeat in 2024 (losing all but nine of their Westminster seats). Yet if all political careers end in failure, 99% of politicians would surely envy Sturgeon’s. She served as first minister for more than eight years, from November 2014 to March 2023, and took the SNP to new electoral heights. In May 2015, the party won 50% of the Scottish vote in the UK general election (its vote share surging by 30 percentage points) and won 56 of the 59 seats. At Holyrood, the SNP was never in danger of losing power under Sturgeon, and even now – after Labour’s win in the 2024 UK election – the SNP is ahead in opinion polls for the 2026 Holyrood election. Under Sturgeon, party membership surged, the SNP entrenched itself as the dominant party of government in Scotland, and support for independence held steady at around the 45%-50% mark – briefly touching 53% in 2020. That’s no small achievement and something no other leader has done.
What did Nicola Sturgeon achieve in office?
Under Sturgeon, the SNP government moved to the left, using newly devolved powers to make income tax more progressive (and higher than in England) and social security more generous, even as GDP grew broadly in line with the rest of the UK. But while Scotland’s debt balloons and spending on public services such as health and education is around 25% higher per capita than in England, “outcomes are not 25% better”, says Alex Massie in The Times. Sometimes they are significantly worse. “Drugs kill more people, per capita, in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe,” and while the causes are complex, the scale of the problem doubled on Sturgeon’s watch. The latest figures on the public finance, too, “paint a pretty bleak picture”, says Lucy Dunn in The Spectator. Scotland has a £26.5 billion gap in the public finances – a black hole that amounts to 11.7% of GDP and which widens to more than £30 billion if North Sea oil revenues are excluded.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
What about education?
It’s a similar story. Shortly after becoming first minister, Sturgeon vowed to “close the attainment gap completely” between children from well-off and poor backgrounds, and asked to be judged on this measure. But a decade later, that gap has widened – and is still growing year by year, while Scotland has fallen decisively behind England and other comparable nations on key metrics. Even admirers of Sturgeon have always wrestled with “the space between rhetoric and reality in the SNP government”, says Libby Brooks in The Guardian. Sturgeon says the introduction of the Scottish child payment, the expansion of free childcare and support for youngsters in care are among her proudest achievements. In practice, though, there’s been a significant implementation gap – extended childcare ended up as a postcode lottery, with extra hours offered at work-unfriendly times. But it is of a piece with contemporary politics that “good intentions are expected to substitute for good outcomes”, says Massie. “In that respect, Sturgeon was an archetype of a particular type of political success. And no one ever lost money betting against the Scottish left’s capacity for moral preening. Sturgeon was, and remains, a master of this craft.”
What about Covid?
The pandemic is seen by some as Sturgeon’s finest hour. In practice, though, Sturgeon’s policies differed from England’s mainly in details of timing and tone. Overall, Scotland’s record on deaths and economic damage are similar – and worse than many European peers. The public inquiry into the pandemic blotted her reputation, with the revelation that many crucial WhatsApp messages were deleted. Sturgeon blames the pandemic for the poor performance of the Scottish health system, but it was under serious strain even before 2020. Under the SNP (in power since 2007) Scotland has lower – and falling – life expectancy, and higher deaths from drug misuse, than England and other European peers.
Not much of a legacy, then?
The SNP has already backed away from much of her policy legacy, says Iain Macwhirter in The Spectator. The gender nonsense has been abandoned.
Sturgeon’s coalition with the Scottish Greens is long gone. And the Scottish government has ditched the ambitious emissions reduction targets she established. Only this week, it scrapped her plans to replace a million gas boilers by 2030. For the SNP to have a chance of securing its goal of independence, it must first understand that Sturgeon’s “policies, especially on gender and the environment, led to a breach with many mainstream Scottish voters”. Yes, 46% percent of voters still back independence. But the prospect of it actually happening is as far away as ever.
This article was first published in MoneyWeek's magazine. Enjoy exclusive early access to news, opinion and analysis from our team of financial experts with a MoneyWeek subscription.
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Simon Wilson’s first career was in book publishing, as an economics editor at Routledge, and as a publisher of non-fiction at Random House, specialising in popular business and management books. While there, he published Customers.com, a bestselling classic of the early days of e-commerce, and The Money or Your Life: Reuniting Work and Joy, an inspirational book that helped inspire its publisher towards a post-corporate, portfolio life.
Since 2001, he has been a writer for MoneyWeek, a financial copywriter, and a long-time contributing editor at The Week. Simon also works as an actor and corporate trainer; current and past clients include investment banks, the Bank of England, the UK government, several Magic Circle law firms and all of the Big Four accountancy firms. He has a degree in languages (German and Spanish) and social and political sciences from the University of Cambridge.
-
Family face £100k stamp duty bill after avoidance scheme crashes in court – the mistakes to avoid
A couple faces a substantial stamp duty bill after trying to reduce the amount they owed
-
How to get a guaranteed income in retirement
Savers want certainty in retirement, with almost two-fifths naming guaranteed income as their main priority. An annuity can achieve this – but what other income options are available to supplement it?
-
Self-employed? Start saving for your pension now
Britons who are self-employed have neglected to build up their retirement fund. They must act now
-
The financial crisis in UK universities – what can be done?
UK universities are running out of cash and have begun to shed staff; bankruptcies look likely. What’s gone wrong, and what should be done about it?
-
'Governments are launching an assault on the independence of central banks'
Opinion Say goodbye to the era of central bank orthodoxy and hello to the new era of central bank dependency, says Jeremy McKeown
-
Why investors can no longer trust traditional statistical indicators
Opinion The statistical indicators and data investors have relied on for decades are no longer fit for purpose. It's time to move on, says Helen Thomas
-
The most likely outcome of the AI boom is a big fall
Opinion Like the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, AI is not paying off – despite huge investments being made in the hope of creating AI-based wealth
-
The rise of Robin Zeng: China’s billionaire battery king
Robin Zeng, a pioneer in EV batteries, is vying with Li Ka-shing for the title of Hong Kong’s richest person. He is typical of a new kind of tycoon in China
-
How retail investors can gain exposure to Lloyd’s of London
It’s hard for retail investors to get in on the action at Lloyd’s of London. Here are some of the ways to gain exposure
-
The goal of business is not profit, but virtue
Opinion Serve your customers well, and the profits will follow, according to a new book. It rarely works the other way around, says Stuart Watkins