Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician who is the current First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), in office since November 2014. She is the first woman to hold either position. Sturgeon has been a member of the Scottish Parliament since 1999, first as an additional member for the Glasgow electoral region from 1999 to 2007, and as the member for Glasgow Southside since 2007 (known as Glasgow Govan from 2007 to 2011). A law graduate of the University of Glasgow, Sturgeon worked as a solicitor in Glasgow.

The UK Government held a referendum to decide the future of the United Kingdom's European Union membership in which all 32 council areas in Scotland voted by a majority for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the EU. Across Scotland, 62% of voters backed the UK remaining a member of the EU, with 38% voting for the UK to leave. Overall 52% of voters in the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, with 48% voting to remain. In response to the result, on 24 June 2016, Sturgeon said that Scottish Government officials would begin planning for a second independence referendum. Sturgeon claimed that it was "clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union" and that Scotland had "spoken decisively" with a "strong, unequivocal" vote to remain in the European Union. Sturgeon said it was "democratically unacceptable" that Scotland could be taken out of the EU "against its will". On 24 June, Sturgeon said she would communicate to all EU member states that Scotland had voted to stay in the EU. An emergency Scottish cabinet meeting on 25 June agreed that the Scottish Government would seek to enter negotiations with the EU and its member states, to explore options to protect Scotland's place in the EU." Sturgeon later said that while she believed in Scottish independence, her starting point in these discussions was to protect Scotland's relationship with the EU. May's comments confirmed that the PM wanted the Scottish government to be "fully engaged" in the process. Sturgeon was planning to meet with EU leaders in Brussels to discuss Scotland remaining in the EU. However, Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, said that such discussions would be "not appropriate" considering the "situation in the UK". Nonetheless, she was able to arrange for a meeting on 29 June with European Parliament President Martin Schulz and others. Afterwards, Sturgeon said the reception had been "sympathetic", but she conceded that she did not underestimate the challenges. Sturgeon met with new UK Prime Minister Theresa May in Edinburgh on 15 July 2016 after the latter had made it clear that UK unity was a high priority. Afterwards, Sturgeon said that "It would be inconceivable for any prime minister to seek to stand in the way of a referendum if that is what the Scottish Parliament voted for ... if there's a clear sense that that's what people in Scotland want, would be completely the wrong thing to do." She added a conciliatory note, however in her assessment of May: "She's a woman who has a fairly businesslike way of doing things, which I have too. So I think we can find a way of working together, notwithstanding those disagreements." CANNOTANSWER

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