NICOLA Sturgeon wants to stay in power for at least another five years.
The SNP leader has revealed she will fight the next Holyrood elections in a bid to serve another full term as first minister.
Her remarks, in an interview with the Sunday Mail, came after rumours she may stand down to make way for internal challengers, perhaps to take up a global role in the United Nations.
However, she told the paper: “I think I am the best person for the job, I fully intend to lead my party in the 2021 election, and I think if you do that you need to be prepared to serve a full term. That is the basis on which I would be putting myself up for re-election as First Minister.
“I have been First Minister for five years, I have been in government for almost 13 years. I hope this doesn’t sound complacent, we face challenges all of the time, but having been in government for that length of time we are a party that still has very significant support."
She would not speculate on whether she would want to do another term after 2021. Her messaging has been criticised in this weekend's Herald on Sunday as "incoherent" as she tries to appeal to both Remainers and independence supporters.
Polls suggest the SNP will win the 2021 election though recent surveys have varied on whether nationalists and Greens between them can secure a pro-independence majority.
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This weekend another batch of polls have also suggested the SNP will gain more seats in Scotland but that the Tories will hold on to some or most of those they gained in 2017.
She said: “Let me take one election at a time. I’ve gone to the next one, 2021, so asking me to think beyond that is one too far.”
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Ms Sturgeon also moved to lure No voters. She said: “My message to them is that I don’t take their support for the SNP as necessarily support for independence.
"This election will not decide independence, it is about stopping Brexit and stopping Boris Johnson, it is about making sure the future of the country is decided here in Scotland, and I think that should be a point of unity.
“It is for the people to decide – they shouldn’t have that imposed on them. “I have spoken to a lot of people who are voting SNP in this election who, if there is a referendum as of now, wouldn’t be guaranteed to vote Yes, and some who might never vote yes.
“But they are voting yes in this election because they don’t want a Boris Johnson government and they don’t want the mess of Brexit.”
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