Edinburgh MSP Ash Regan launches bid to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and First Minister

Ash Regan says she is ‘the candidate for change’ as she launches her SNP leadership election bid

Edinburgh Eastern MSP Ash Regan has launched her campaign to become SNP leader and First Minister, describing herself as the “candidate for change”.

All three candidates – Ms Regan, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and Finance Secretary Kate Forbes – have all received the required number of nominations to get on the ballot paper which will be sent to party members for the leadership election.Ms Regan told a launch event at a hotel in North Queensferry: "Our campaign is built on hope, optimism and a belief in the power of our people. The truth is that our movement has been divided for far too long by petty differences and personal agendas, but we can;t afford to let these differences tear us apart any longer. We must come together as one united force for Scotland.” She said she would heal the divisions in the party. “Everyone is going to make up and move on

The former Community Safety Minister who quit Nicola Sturgeon’s government over gender reform promised she would not pursue a legal challenge to the UK government’s decision to veto the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. “The GRR Bill is flawed and it doesn’t command public support. Challenging in court will prolong the debate in terms which I believe are dividing society, which is to the detriment of transgender people. I don’t think the public will forgive us as a party for using taxpayers’ money fr something they are so clearly opposed to.” She said she would instead seek consensus but not compromise. “If there was an appetite for it I would be happy to had the matter over to Citizens’ Assembly and let the people of Scotland decide how to take it forward.”

Ash Regan launches her leadership campaign with the Queensferry Crossing as backdrop

Speaking with the Queensferry Crossing as a backdrop, Ms Regan said she had written to all of Scotland’s independence groups notifying them of her intention to call an independence convention as soon as she became leader. “I want the membership of the SNP to be let in no doubt that independence is the immediate priority.”

But she rejected both the referendum and the de facto referendum strategies for getting independence. She said: "The referendum mechanism has been exhausted, including the so-called de facto referendum. Under my leadership, SNP policy will be to explicitly declare on line one of our party manifesto in any election that should we – in conjunction, or not, with other parties – achieve a majority of seats and votes cast, the collectively we will begin independence negotiations on day one of a new parliament.”