Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Who is the leader of Scotland?
Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as the fifth and current First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) 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).
Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister and leader of the SNP, stated that he accepted the "verdict of the people" and called upon "all Scots to follow suit in accepting the democratic verdict of the people of Scotland". He called the referendum a "triumph for the democratic process and for participation in politics". He also resigned as SNP leader and as Scottish First Minister, saying that "for me as leader my time is nearly over but for Scotland the campaign continues and the dream shall never die".
Jim Sillars, former Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party, said during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum that “BP, in an independent Scotland, will need to learn the meaning of nationalisation, in part or in whole, as it has in other countries who have not been as soft as we have forced to be. We will be the masters of the oil fields, not BP or any other of the majors.”
ESU Scotland also administers the Scottish legs of the ESU Schools Mace, the ESU Public Speaking Competition and the John Smith Memorial Mace (named after the former Labour leader and winner of the competition who died in 1994).
Baptists first arrived in Scotland with the armies of English republican Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s, who established small churches in Leith, Perth, Cupar, Ayr and Aberdeen, but they did not survive for long, partly because of their association with Cromwell (who was generally not welcomed in Scotland), but more especially as a result of strident and often violent opposition instigated and inspired by the Church of Scotland and the Parliament of Scotland which it controlled. Baptists later emerged in the 18th century—in 1750 at Keiss, where the leader was William Sinclair and the church was established on the English Baptist pattern. The group who in Edinburgh came to Baptist convictions in 1765 under the leadership of Robert Carmichael and Archibald McLean became known as Scotch Baptists. Like other Scottish Protestant Christians of the time they were very conservative and adopted the opinions of a particularly strict form of Calvinism. Somewhat later, a different form of Baptist witness emerged, this time influenced by the Haldane brothers, James Haldane and Robert Haldane evangelical preachers who came to Baptist convictions around 1808. Along with the "English Baptists", they were distinguished from the Scotch Baptists by their more moderate and less Calvinistic attitudes. After overcoming initial hostilities, all these groups were able to unite in 1869.
In March 1560, Mary, Queen of Scots and her husband Francis II of France sent Jean to Scotland to meet the former Regent of Scotland, the Earl of Arran. Arran was the leader of the Protestant Lords of the Congregation who had risen against the Catholic rule of Mary of Guise during the Scottish Reformation. Jean first went to London to meet Elizabeth I of England, then travelled with Henry Killigrew to Berwick upon Tweed on 6 April. They met the Duke of Norfolk who was directing English military operations in Scotland in support of the Protestants. Killigrew wrote a note to William Cecil which mentions that he had deliberately taken the journey north as slowly as possible, riding forty miles in a day rather than sixty. During the ride, Jean told Killigrew that he was offended by Elizabeth's efforts to delay him in London, while her army, enabled by the treaty of Berwick had entered Scotland.
The party was founded on 7 April 1934 as the result of a merger between the National Party of Scotland (NPS) and the Scottish Party. Sir Alexander MacEwen became the new party's first leader. The merger was the brainchild of leading NPS figure John MacCormick, who desired unity for the nationalist movement in Scotland, and, upon learning of the Scottish Party's emergence, moved to secure it.
It was originally raised as the Cameronian Guard by the Lords of the Convention, named after the Cameronians, followers of the Presbyterian Richard Cameron, who had been a militant leader in the struggles of the Covenanters against attempts by the Stuart monarchs Charles II and James VII to outlaw Presbyterianism and impose bishops on the Church of Scotland. This conflict culminated with the Glorious Revolution leading to a Convention of the Estates of Scotland meeting on 14 March 1689. On 11 April, the day of the English coronation, the Convention finally declared that James was no longer King of Scotland, and offered the crown jointly to William and Mary.
The Free Church of Scotland was a Scottish denomination which was formed in 1843 by a large withdrawal from the established Church of Scotland in a schism or division known as the Disruption of 1843. In 1900 the vast majority of the Free Church of Scotland joined with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form the United Free Church of Scotland (which itself mostly re-united with the Church of Scotland in 1929). The House of Lords judged that the minority continuing after the 1900 union were entitled to all the assets. While the denomination clearly had a starting date, in their own eyes their leaders had a legitimate claim to an unbroken succession of leaders going all the way back to the Apostles.
In 1653, Middleton was chosen by Charles II to head the projected rising in Scotland. He reached Scotland in February 1654, but the insurrection was a complete failure. Its leader, who could not be held responsible for this result, remained in Scotland until 1655, when he rejoined Charles II, who created him Earl of Middleton in 1656 with the subsidiary title Lord Clermont and Fettercairn.
Argyll, the chief of Clan Campbell, had hoped to raise several thousand men amongst his followers, while it was expected that many Presbyterians in southern Scotland would join the rebels. Argyll sailed from Holland on 2 May with around 300 men, but on landing in Scotland attracted relatively few volunteers. Hampered by Argyll's inexperience as a commander, disagreements amongst the other leaders, and by an opposing force under the Marquess of Atholl, the rebels began to disperse in mid June after an abortive invasion of Lowland Scotland. Most of their leaders were captured, including Argyll, who was executed on 30 June.
While Andrew Moray seized control of northern Scotland and William Wallace rampaged through west-central Scotland, a rising led by Scotland's traditional feudal leaders was taking place in the south. Amongst its leaders were James, the High Steward of Scotland and Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow. Robert Bruce of Carrick, the future king, was also a participant in this rising. Faced with a large army led by Henry de Percy and Robert de Clifford, they entered negotiations in June. After capitulating at Irvine in July, they failed to surrender the promised hostages which included Robert de Bruce's infant daughter, and most of the same leaders, including Robert de Bruce, were once more with the Scottish forces a short time later.
The yellow ribbon is also used to show support for exiled Catalan leaders, including the Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and four other Ministers, who had fled to Belgium and Scotland to avoid arrest and to seek broader European support for their cause; as well as Marta Rovira (leader of ERC) and Anna Gabriel (leader of CUP) who fled to Switzerland.
Following defeat in the Scottish independence referendum, 2014, Scottish National Party leader and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond announced his resignation as SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. In the aftermath of his resignation, a leadership bid was launched, and current Deputy First Minister of Scotland and SNP Depute leader Nicola Sturgeon was widely tipped to become Salmond's successor.
Scotland entered into a political union with England in 1707, and since then has sent representatives to the Palace of Westminster, which succeeded the Parliament of England to become the British Parliament. Currently, 59 Members of Parliament (MPs) represent Scottish constituencies at Westminster, and issues such as the constitution, foreign affairs, defence, social security, pensions, issues of medical ethics, and fiscal, economic and monetary policy are decided on a nationwide UK level. In 1999, a 129-member Scottish Parliament was established in Edinburgh; it has full power to make law in Scotland, except in reserved matters. In the UK government, Scottish affairs are represented by the Secretary of State for Scotland, currently David Mundell MP. The Scottish Government is headed by a First Minister, who is the leader of the political party with the most support in the Scottish Parliament, currently Nicola Sturgeon MSP. The head of state in Scotland is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II (since 1952). There are six Members of the European Parliament elected by Scotland, as the UK is a member state of the European Union.
Following defeat in the Scottish independence referendum, 2014, Scottish National Party leader and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond announced his resignation as SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. In the aftermath of his resignation, a leadership bid was launched, with Deputy First Minister of Scotland and SNP Depute leader Nicola Sturgeon widely tipped to become Salmond's successor.
In 1570, the supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was exiled in England, selected Henri as a potential leader of a French military force to aid them in their civil war against the King's Men who supported James VI of Scotland. The Queen's Men thought that Henri's Scottish and French royal ancestry would gain him respect in Scotland and England. Although the Queen's men put the idea to John Lesley, Queen Mary's ambassador in France, French soldiers and Henri were not sent to Scotland.
Debates were also held in Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland, due to the devolved nature of various aspects of government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland and Wales, representatives of three main parties were joined by respective nationalist party representatives who stand MPs only in Scotland and Wales, while in Northern Ireland, due to the main parties having no seats, debates were held between the four largest Northern Irish parties. The arrangements for the UK-wide leaders debates were criticised for being restricted to the main UK parties excluding other national minor parties and nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales, for covering many domestic matters which are devolved from Westminster, and also for being held in three locations solely in England.
The Yes campaign repeatedly called for there to be a televised debate between UK Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond. These calls for a one-on-one debate were dismissed by Cameron on the basis that the referendum is "for Scots to decide" and the debate should be "between people in Scotland who want to stay, and people in Scotland who want to go". Calls for such a debate were also supported by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who said it would be a "good idea". Better Together chairman Alistair Darling accused Salmond of "running scared" from debating him instead, although Sturgeon stated in 2013 that a Salmond–Darling debate would take place at some point. Darling refused a public debate with Yes Scotland chairman Blair Jenkins. UKIP leader Nigel Farage also challenged Salmond to debate, but Farage was dismissed by an SNP spokeswoman as "an irrelevance in Scotland".
The debate was recorded at The SSE Hydro on the afternoon of Thursday 11 September 2014, and broadcast during the evening on BBC One (earlier in Scotland). Presented by James Cook, the four members of the panel were Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Green Party leader Patrick Harvie for the Yes campaign, and Scottish Conservative Party leader Ruth Davidson and Respect Party politician George Galloway for the No campaign. The audience was made up of 7,500 teenagers representing every secondary school in Scotland.
The Scottish Reformation of 1560 decisively shaped the Church of Scotland. The Reformation in Scotland culminated ecclesiastically in the establishment of a church along Reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of France. John Knox is regarded as the leader of the Scottish Reformation. The Scottish Reformation Parliament of 1560 repudiated the pope's authority by the Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560, forbade the celebration of the Mass and approved a Protestant Confession of Faith. It was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony under the regime of the regent Mary of Guise, who had governed Scotland in the name of her absent daughter.
Following defeat in the Scottish independence referendum, 2014, Scottish National Party leader and First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond announced his resignation as SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. In the aftermath of his resignation, a leadership bid was launched, and SNP Depute leader Nicola Sturgeon stood down to stand for leader, triggering a Depute leader contest.
The prospect of an electoral alliance between pro-independence partiesspecifically the SNP, the Scottish Greens, and the Scottish Socialist Partywas raised after the referendum and supported by elected SNP politicians, but played down by Green co-convenor Patrick Harvie, who said party members did not want their "distinctive Green perspective" to be lost. The SSP supported negotiations for a formal alliance until late in 2014.As in 2010, there were televised debates ahead of the election, featuring the Scottish leaders of the three main UK parties as well as the leader of the SNP. The first debate was broadcast on STV on 7 April. The second debate was held on BBC One Scotland on 8 April with additional representatives from the Scottish Greens and UKIP. A follow up date a few days later took place on Sunday Politics Scotland, The debate was criticised, with many of the public claiming it was a "shambles".
The Last debate took place on 3 May.
The leaders from each of the main parties are: 
In 1921, J. R. Clynes became the first Leader of the Labour Party to have been born in England; prior to this, all party leaders had been born in Scotland. In 1924, Ramsay MacDonald became the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority administration which lasted nine months. Clement Attlee would become the first Labour leader to lead a majority government in 1945. The first to be born in Wales was Neil Kinnock, who was elected in 1983. The most electorally successful Leaders of the Labour Party to date are: Tony Blair, who won three consecutive electoral victories in 1997, 2001 (both landslide victories), and 2005, and Harold Wilson, who won three general elections out of five contested, in 1964, 1966 and October 1974.
The leading figure in the Evangelical movement within the Church of Scotland in the eighteenth century was John Erskine (1721–1803), who was minister of Old Greyfriars Church in Edinburgh from 1768. He was orthodox in doctrine, but sympathised with the Enlightenment and supported reforms in religious practice. A popular preacher, he corresponded with religious leaders in other countries, including New England theologian Johnathan Edwards (1703–58), whose ideas were a major influence on the movement in Scotland.