Following the SNP's landslide majority in 2011, she was appointed Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Capital Investment and Cities, which saw her in charge of the legislative process for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

The calls from Sturgeon's government and the wider independence movement for a second referendum were unsuccessful, as successive Conservative prime ministers refused to grant a Section 30 order.

[12] Her grandmother married Robert Sturgeon, a gardener from Ayr, at St Paul's Parish Church in 1943, and they both eventually moved back to the south west of Scotland.

There was, however, significant public opposition to repeal and an unscientific postal vote on the issue – organised by SNP donor Brian Souter – suggested most Scots wanted to keep the clause.

The compromise had the support of Souter but an amendment to that effect was voted down by MSPs who expressed concerns it would stigmatise children from single parent and unmarried families.

[28] The political columnist Iain Macwhirter declared that while she "didn't inspire great warmth", she was "quick on her feet, lacks any ideological baggage and has real determination – unlike... Roseanna Cunningham".

[30] The majority of the SNP hierarchy lent their support to the Salmond–Sturgeon bid for the leadership, although MSP Alex Neil backed Salmond as leader, but refused to endorse Sturgeon as depute.

She ordered a review of the issue of hospital car parking charges – as high as £7 in some areas – and launched an inquiry into the infection of NHS patients with Hepatitis C and HIV from tainted blood products.

[91] On 20 November 2014, Sturgeon was sworn into office at the Court of Session in a ceremony presided by Lord Gill,[92][93] after receiving the royal warrant of appointment by Queen Elizabeth II.

[110] The manifesto also included a commitment to increase NHS funding by £500 million, "baby boxes" full of essentials to newborn parents, and an ambitious new target to cut emissions by 50% by 2020 as of the party's effort to tackle climate change.

[126] Prior to the day the Prime Minister triggered Article 50, formally allowing the process of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, the Scottish Parliament voted 69 to 59 in favour of another independence referendum.

[133] Observers also concluded that opposition to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy in coastal communities was a factor behind large swings to the Tories in North East seats previously held by nationalists for decades.

[134][135] Several weeks later Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that she would "reset" and delay her plans for a second independence referendum; the SNP losses in that month's election had led her to conclude that many Scots "just want a break from making big political decisions".

[136][137] In January 2019, Sturgeon referred herself to an independent ministerial ethics body, which led to an investigation into her actions with respect to a sexual harassment case concerning allegations against Salmond.

The investigating panel consisted of Dame Elish Angiolini, a former Solicitor General for Scotland and lord advocate, and James Hamilton, a former director of public prosecutions in the Republic of Ireland.

Initially, the Scottish Government resisted banning public events and on 12 March allowed 47,000 fans to attend a Rangers match at Ibrox, insisting that, "stopping mass gatherings [is] not the best way to contain this virus.

[170][171] At a session of First Minister's Questions in June 2021, Sturgeon was asked about mistakes made early on in the pandemic, and she replied: "If I could turn the clock back, would we go into lockdown earlier than we did?

[183] In August 2021, confronted by climate activist Lauren Macdonald about the Cambo oil field west of Shetland, Sturgeon refused to take a position on whether its development should go ahead.

A video of the interaction went viral[4] and a few days later, Sturgeon wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking that the development of Cambo should be "reassessed in light of the severity of the climate emergency".

[201][202][200] Key documentation, which might have explained why ministers signed the contracts without appropriate safeguards to protect taxpayers' money, was lost and Sturgeon later said this too was "regrettable" and that "the government will learn lessons.

On 17 January 2023, the UK Government decided to invoke, for the first time, section 35 of the Scottish Act 1998, to make an order which prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from gaining Royal Assent.

[248] Annemarie Ward, chief executive at the FAVOR Scotland charity, said: "Nicola Sturgeon said she would make it her national mission to save lives – but we're still losing more than 1000 people a year.

[268] Sturgeon highlighted that Spain should follow "the shining example" that was created as part of the Edinburgh Agreement between the Scottish and British governments that allowed Scotland to hold a legally binding referendum.

[276] However, in 2018, she endorsed her party's Growth Commission report that pledged to reduce an independent Scotland's budget deficit as a percentage of GDP[277] – something the Institute for Fiscal Studies concluded meant "continued austerity".

[281] She has at various points commented on the behaviour or attitudes of men towards women; publicly condemning Donald Trump,[282] Tony Abbott[283] and former Labour MSP Neil Findlay.

[227] Critics of the changes within the SNP had accused Sturgeon of being "out of step" on the issue, and expressed concerns that the reforms would be open to abuse and allow predatory men into women's spaces.

[318] In the latter half of Sturgeon's leadership of the SNP, a Police Scotland fraud inquiry was launched to investigate the spending of money that was raised specifically for independence campaigning.

[321][322][323] On 5 April 2023, Sturgeon's husband and the party's former chief executive, Peter Murrell, was arrested at their Glasgow residence and their home was searched amid the ongoing investigation.

[339] On 23 May 2024 Police Scotland handed a prosecution report in relation to Peter Murrell to the Crown Office who confirmed that a "53 year-old woman" also remained under investigation.

[364][365] Her popular reputation suffered following her appearance at the 2024 COVID-19 inquiry and revelations she had deleted Whatsapp messages;[366] however, polling has differed and there is still evidence of high trust towards her, usually along partisan lines.