Nicola Sturgeon has admitted she could quit Scotland ‘for a wee while’ after revealing she can’t ‘breathe freely’ in her home country.
The former first minister suggested living elsewhere would give her a ‘perspective shift’, although she insisted she would not be going away for ‘very long’.
The 55-year-old is preparing to step down as an MSP at next May’s Holyrood elections, bringing to an end a 27-year spell in the Scottish Parliament.
Ms Sturgeon said being ‘so focused’ on her political career meant she had to ‘forego certain things’ such as living outside Scotland.
But she also described her home country as ‘goldfish bowl’ where her every act is scrutinised.
The ex-SNP leader, who has spent her political life campaigning for an independent Scotland to break away from the UK, hinted she could even move to London.
Ms Sturgeon was arrested in June 2023 and questioned by police as part of the investigation into SNP finances, but has now been formally cleared.
Her husband, ex-SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – who she announced her split from in January – has appeared in court charged with alleged embezzlement.
Nicola Sturgeon has admitted she could quit Scotland ‘for a wee while’ after revealing she can’t ‘breathe freely’ in her home country
The ex-SNP leader, who has spent her political life campaigning for an independent Scotland to break away from the UK, hinted she could even move to London
Speaking to BBC Breakfast as her memoir is published, Ms Sturgeon said she was at a point in her life where she is ‘happy, contented, looking forward to the future’.
She said that while she might live elsewhere for a period, she said she would ‘never leave Scotland for very long’.
‘Scotland is my home, it is where I belong, it is where my family is,’ Ms Sturgeon added.
‘One of the things about being so focused on a political career is that you forego certain things.
‘I didn’t live outside of Scotland or the UK for any period when I was younger, I think it is healthy to shift your perspective, to see life from a different angle.
‘So, maybe for a wee while I will take myself outside of Scotland, give myself that perspective shift, but I am never going to be away for very long.’
Expanding further in a separate interview with the BBC’s Newscast, Ms Sturgeon said she could leave Scotland but ‘not for ever and possibly not for very long’.
‘I belong in Scotland, it’s my home,’ she added. ‘But I think being physically out of Scotland for a period might just help to reset my perspective.
‘And – to be more selfish about it – just remove me a little bit from that goldfish-bowl scrutiny that I still live under in Scotland.
‘I don’t mean that as a complaint, it’s just the reality that Scotland’s quite a small country, it’s quite a small body politic.
‘Sometimes it feels, and this is very subjective, that I just have to breathe the wrong way and somebody is writing a story about it.’
She continued: ‘Suffocating is maybe putting it too strongly, but I feel sometimes I can’t breathe freely in Scotland.’
Ms Sturgeon also hinted she could move south of the border to London after spending a lot of her recent time in the UK’s capital.
‘This may shock many people to hear but I love London,’ she said. ‘For one thing and another I’m spending a reasonable amount of time in London at the moment.
‘So, yeah, maybe a bit of time down here. Who knows?’
