GB: Scotland, after Sturgeon his deputy also resigns

(ANSA) - LONDON, MARCH 02 - After the resignation announced in Scotland by the first minister and leader of the pro-independence party SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, her deputy, John Swinney, who was initially given as a possible successor at the helm of the local government in Edinburgh, is also leaving but then he had preferred not to run.

    In a letter to Sturgeon, Swinney said it was an "honor to serve Scotland".

Veteran of the SNP, of which he had also been leader from 2000 to 2004, he held positions in the Scottish executive for 16 years.

Swinney, 58, like Sturgeon, is expected to remain in his place until a new SNP leader and prime minister is chosen later this month.

There are three suitors in the running after the closing of the deadlines for the presentation of formal nominations: the star of the party Kate Forbes, head of Finance;

the Head of Health Humza Yousaf, a Scot with a Pakistani immigrant father and Kenyan mother;

and Ash Regan, who resigned in recent months as deputy minister for safety of local communities in controversy with the project of the controversial GenderRecognition Act,

law wanted by Sturgeon and blocked by the constitutional opposition of London.

(HANDLE).