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“She’s in a bad place and it won’t end well” — Courier columnist Alex Bell thinks Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership has reached its endgame

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Courier columnist Alex Bell believes the “endgame in Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership has begun”.

In Thursday’s Courier — also available as a digital edition — Alex outlines his belief that “the SNP’s grip is slipping”.

The former BBC correspondent and head of policy and speechwriter to Alex Salmond
argues that the impasse over the EU withdrawal bill could be the current First Minister’s undoing.

“Sturgeon is staking her reputation in a fight over devolution, which isn’t even her party’s policy,” he states.

“This is…not her fight. If she wins, all she has done is secure the devolution settlement.

“If she loses, she looks too weak to fight her big cause, independence.”

Alex claims that Ms Sturgeon would rather forget about a second independence referendum at this stage but that fervent SNP supporters remain wedded to the notion.

“The cry for another independence vote will only get louder,” Alex writes.

“She’s in a bad place, and it won’t end well.”

* Don’t miss the full Alex Bell column, exclusively in Thursday’s Courier.