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Former SNP minister Ash Regan, who quit over the Scottish government's plans to reform gender recognition rules, has joined the calls for the SNP conference next month to be postponed.

She also wants all members who left the party in the last year to be allowed to re-join and vote in the leadership contest.

This is endorsed by SNP MP Joanna Cherry KC, who tweets that many "left the party in exasperation" over woman's rights issues and others left because of the independence strategy.

She adds that some party members were suspended, external "without due process or because of complaints of 'transphobia'” that were not compliant with equality law, and argued that the leadership result could be challenged if they were not reinstated.

Marita Moloney
Live reporter

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Scottish independence will be one of the "principal issues" in the race to find Nicola Sturgeon's successor, regardless of whether next month's special conference goes ahead.

That's according to polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice, who says some sections of the SNP were not happy about Sturgeon's strategy.

The outgoing first minister said the next election was a de facto referendum on independence and the party was seeking 50% of the vote to trigger independence negotiations.

"There was nothing wrong with Nicola Sturgeon’s strategy, if indeed support for independence was at more than 50%," the polling expert from the University of Strathclyde tells the BBC. This is a "high barrier," he says.

Once the debate over Sturgeon's plans started within the SNP, the party was "getting entangled in a debate about process" which was not going to "move the dial" on the substantive question of independence, Sir John adds.

“At the end of the day, what the independence movement above all needs to achieve is it needs to get the dial of support for independence above 50%," he says.

The incumbent leader will only want to fight a referendum if they know they're going to win, he adds.

Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation was a surprise to former deputy SNP leader Jim Sillars, who says he has "never known a politician who held power actually wanting to give it up”.

Speaking to BBC News, Sillars is highly critical of Sturgeon’s leadership. He says the SNP has wasted six years since the Brexit vote because it became the referendum party rather than the independence party.

Sillars says a vacuum was created in the “policy sphere” and he’d be unable to tell voters what the SNP’s independence policies are on areas such as pensions, the economy or currencies.

He says the SNP should “forget about the referendum” and instead focus on gaining majority support in Scotland for independence – and thereby gain approval from Westminster for a vote.

Without that approval “there is no legal right to hold a referendum” and anyone who believed that was possible were “leading the people astray," says Sillars.

“The party has got to get real about this,” he adds.

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Mairi McAllan

The 30-year-old Clydesdale MSP is a fresh face at Holyrood, having first been elected in 2021.

A former solicitor, she served as a special adviser to Nicola Sturgeon before winning a seat of her own, and currently serves as environment minister.

That means she has a solid grounding in how the Scottish government works - the question may be whether it is too early in her career to move into the very top job.

Neil Gray

Another recent arrival at Holyrood, Neil Gray was the MP for Airdrie but gave up the seat to become an MSP in 2021.

The 36-year-old swiftly made his way into government as international development minister, and has led the Scottish government's handling of refugees arriving from the war in Ukraine.

He was also seen as being close to Sturgeon and her leadership team, so could position himself as the continuity candidate.

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Keith Brown

The justice secretary might be an outside bet, but he was elected deputy in 2018, so clear has some support within the party.

The 61-year-old has been at Holyrood since the SNP came into government in 2007 and has held a range of briefs, from transport to the economy.

He declined to discuss possible candidates to replace Sturgeon following her resignation, saying that "today is about Nicola Sturgeon".

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Angus Robertson

Robertson is the former leader of the SNP's Westminster group, a role which gained additional prominence after the party became the third-largest in the Commons following the 2015 election.

He lost his seat in 2017, but became the MSP for Edinburgh Central in 2021 and was quickly appointed Scotland's constitution secretary - an important post given the more or less full-time conflict between the Scottish and UK governments.

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Humza Yousaf

The health secretary is part of a newer generation of SNP figures, having become a Glasgow MSP in 2011.

He has held a number of senior posts in government, including transport minister, Europe minister, and justice secretary.

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Joanna Cherry

The lawyer has been a prominent MP in the SNP's Westminster group since being elected in 2015, and had been a vocal critic of Sturgeon over controversial reforms to gender recognition laws.

Depending on the strength of feeling about that issue in the party, Cherry might see herself as a realistic contender.

There would though, be questions about how she could control the party without having a seat at Holyrood, with years to go until the next Scottish election.

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Send us an email with the subject Sturgeon resigns to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 07756 165803.

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Unlike when Nicola Sturgeon took over as SNP leader from Alex Salmond unopposed in 2014, there is no obvious frontrunner in the race to replace her, but here are a number of the names being floated.

John Swinney

The deputy first minister would be the most experienced candidate, having already led the party for a spell between 2000 and 2004.

He is also a former MP and widely viewed as a safe pair of hands, but it's unclear whether he would want the role again. There will also be some who think it's time the torch was passed on to the next generation.

Kate Forbes

The 32-year-old finance secretary has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of government. She was dropped into the job following the surprise resignation of Derek Mackay and was left to deliver the 2020 Scottish Budget with just hours notice.

Her performance since then has belied her relatively young age and short parliamentary career.

Few would be surprised if she took the next step up, although she is currently on maternity leave following the birth of her first child, and it is not known whether she intends to stand.

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Whoever takes over from Nicola Sturgeon will have a "huge in-tray of problems" and the SNP needs a "refresh", says the editor of Holyrood magazine.

Mandy Rhodes says the gender recognition reform bill and the de facto referendum - whereby the result of the next general election would be seen as a referendum on independence - are closely associated with Sturgeon.

She tells BBC Breakfast that a new SNP leader will have some "very immediate problems to deal with" including legal action against the government in Westminster over gender recognition reform. "I suspect [the legal action] will be quietly dropped," adds Rhodes.

The party needs a leadership contest so members can hear what a new leader will do and what the party's position will be, says Rhodes.

"Any new leader is going to have to come in and really make the pitch, and people are going to have to consider very carefully the future for the party."

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Former US President Donald Trump has said the "wonderful people of Scotland are much better off" after Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation.

Writing on Truth Social, the platform he set up after being banned from Twitter and Facebook, he said: "Good riddance to failed woke extremist Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland!

"This crazed leftist symbolises everything wrong with identity politics."

Trump criticised Sturgeon for Scotland’s gender recognition reforms and claimed she made life “difficult” for his golf businesses in Scotland.

Trump operates two golf courses in Scotland, one in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, and another at Turnberry, South Ayrshire.

He added: "I built the greatest golf properties in the world in Scotland but she fought me all the way, making my job much more difficult.”

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SNP President Michael Russell tells the BBC's Good Morning Scotland this is a "very important moment for the SNP" and for Scottish independence.

"We need to take a careful look at the candidates and discuss this positively and constructively to decide who is the right person to take us forward, to take independence forward and to take Scotland forward," he says.

Russell says it is unlikely that a new leader will be in place in time for the planned SNP conference on 19 March, when the party is set to discuss whether to use an election as a de facto referendum.

He says it could be postponed until the new leader is in place, but they would find a way for people to vote on Scotland's future - which he believes is best served by being independent from the UK.

Nicola Sturgeon announced that she was resigning as Scotland’s first minister yesterday after more than eight years as head of the Scottish government.

Here's a reminder of her announcement at a hastily arranged news conference in Edinburgh, telling journalists she had been "wrestling" with the question of her future for some weeks.

As we reported earlier, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said the party should postpone its upcoming independence conference to give the new leader space to set out their agenda.

“In my view, that conference should be paused, we should allow our new leader the opportunity and the space to set out their vision and their priorities domestically but also give them the space to chart their course when it comes to that pathway to independence," Flynn tells the BBC.

SNP members were due to gather in Edinburgh on 19 March to decide whether they should approach the next UK general election as a de facto referendum on Scottish independence.

Flynn’s comments could mirror concerns raised by Sturgeon’s predecessor Alex Salmond that the SNP’s strategy for independence is now unclear. But Sturgeon yesterday said she was confident her successor “will lead Scotland to independence”.

It followed a UK Supreme Court ruling that the Scottish Parliament could not hold another independence vote without Westminster's approval.

The race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and first minister is now underway, though Sturgeon has said she will remain in post until a successor is found.

The SNP's national executive committee will meet today to decide on a timetable for the leadership election.

According to the party's constitution, candidates for leader must have 100 nominations from members in at least 20 local branches. If there is more than one candidate, a new leader will then be chosen by a vote of all party members.

The contest will be the first since 2014, when Sturgeon replaced Alex Salmond, although she was elected unopposed.

The candidates being touted as possible successors include Deputy First Minister John Swinney - who led the SNP between 2000 and 2004 - Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, and Health Secretary Humza Yousaf.

A towering in-tray for whoever gets the jobpublished at 09:05 Greenwich Mean Time 16 February 2023

09:05 GMT 16 February 2023

Philip Sim
BBC Scotland political correspondent

As the SNP begins its search for a new leader and first minister, we might pause and wonder who would actually want the job?

There is of course no shortage of ambition in politics. But there is also no shortage of difficulties facing anyone running a government in 2023.

Teaching unions have just rejected a new pay deal. The NHS is limping through unprecedented winter pressures. Inflation remains sky high and budgets are squeezed at every level.

That’s before you get to longer-term issues like the attainment gap or the drugs death rate.

And the Scottish government is gearing up for a legal battle with the UK government over Holyrood’s gender reforms, and the SNP is at a crucial crossroads in terms of its strategy on independence.

Uncertainty abounds everywhere you turn. A challenge lurks in almost every portfolio.

Nicola Sturgeon has chosen quite the moment to walk away, and whoever steps into her shoes will have little time to learn the ropes before they get to grips with a towering in-tray.

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Campbell Gunn, a former special adviser to Nicola Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond, says the two first ministers had “different ways of approaching things”.

He tells BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “Salmond was more collegiate, Nicola relied more on a tight bunch of advisers - with one or two other people very close to her.”

He adds: “Both were very effective in their jobs. She was very pleasant to work for.

“On a personal level she is a very nice person, quite humorous. Much less stressful than Salmond, who could be quite hard.”

He says Sturgeon’s legacy would be progressive taxation, helping the less well-off, people with children, Scotland’s baby box and “real things that affected ordinary people”.

Scottish Labour MSP Jackie Baillie tells Good Morning Scotland Sturgeon is a "good politician" who is "good at winning elections" but success for the Scottish National Party was not guaranteed with a new leader at the helm.

"The fact there is nobody obvious tells you that really there is nobody at this stage who is up to the job," Baillie says.

"And things that we all care about - life expectancy in Scotland, down for the first time in history and the worst of all the nations in the UK. That's not the ambitious Scotland that people in the country want to see."

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Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent

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The SNP’s national executive will meet tonight to discuss the timetable for electing a new leader.

There are a number of candidates being mentioned in SNP circles but it could be a few days before we know for sure who is standing.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has confirmed he won’t be one of those standing.

He’s made the point that the new leader needs to be first minister – so should be an MSP at Holyrood.

But he says a special conference, which is due to take place next month to discuss independence, should be postponed.

Flynn argued on BBC Breakfast that the next leader needs time to set out their own strategy.

Katy Taylor, a former special advisor to Nicola Sturgeon, tells the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme the way the first minister resigned was "testament to her character".

She says the pandemic took a toll on Sturgeon, but "it reignited her drive to help people across Scotland".

"She is an ordinary person in an extraordinary job and extraordinary responsibilities," Taylor added.

She said Sturgeon's legacy was her work to improve the lives of young people, noting that baby boxes, Scottish Child Payments, free school meals, childcare and overhauling the care system were "all close to her heart".

"For her the drive was the people, not the politics," Taylor adds.

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The Conservative Party's leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross, says the Scottish government should now focus on issues that "really matter to people" instead of "picking fights" with Westminster.

Speaking to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Ross accused Nicola Sturgeon of being "misleading up to her last [press] conference" by saying she believed there was now majority support for independence.

"There's not," he says. "There's a majority support in Scotland to focus on the issues that really matter to people."

He cited the cost of living crisis as well as the performance of the education, health, and justice systems as issues the Scottish government needs to address.

He also calls on the parties that support the union to "work together" to get the SNP out of power in Holyrood.

"When [the SNP] remain in power, their focus will always be on separation and dividing our country all over again," he says.

Ross also confirms he and Sturgeon had previously made a £100 bet that she would lead the SNP into the next election and that she would outlast him in her role.

"I haven't got [the money] yet, but apparently she has committed to paying up," he says.

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The SNP's Westminster leader says the party should not scrap plans to reform gender recognition laws.

Stephen Flynn tells BBC Breakfast the SNP should reflect and take some of the heat out of the discussion.

But asked if he thought the bill should be dropped, he says: "No, I don't."

He adds the bill has cross-party support at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood and it will be up to MSPs to decide what happens next.

• Read more: Scotland Gender Recognition Bill: What are the sticking points?