Nicola Sturgeon and husband have considered becoming foster parents after leaving politics

SNP leader says she and husband could ‘think about’ fostering a child

Nicola Sturgeon with husband Peter Murrell (PA)

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has revealed that she is open to becoming a foster parent when she leaves politics.

In an interview with Vogue published days before the Cop26 climate change summit being held in her home city Glasgow, the SNP leader reflected on what she might do after she leaves Holyrood and her official Edinburgh residence Bute House.

She said that “fostering chidren may be something [her and her husband] would think about” when she eventually steps out of the public eye.

She told the magazine that her and partner Peter Murrell, 56, the chief executive officer of the SNP, have “only stratched the surface of talking about” whether to foster a child.

Ms Sturgeon, 51, added that she has become “really involved in and passionate about improving the opportunities for young people who grew up in care”.

The couple married in 2010 after dating for seven years. In 2016, Ms Sturgeon had revealed in the book Scottish National Party Leaders that she suffered a miscarriage in 2011 while she was deputy first minister.

In a statement released following the publication of extracts from the book, she said: “This was obviously a painful experience for Peter and I and while [the author] Mandy has known about it for some time, she has always respected our decision not to talk about it publicly.

“I gave her the go ahead to make reference to it now in the hope that it might challenge some of the assumptions and judgements that are still made about women – especially in politics – who don’t have children.

“There are many reasons why women don’t have children. Some of us simply don’t want to, some of us worry about the impact on our career – and there is still so much to do, through better childcare, more progressive working practices and more enlightened attitudes, to make sure we don’t feel we have to choose.

“And sometimes, for whatever reason, having a baby just doesn’t happen– no matter how much we might want it to.”

Speaking about the miscarriage, she has said she was uncertain if she could have been a mother while leading the Scottish government.

Ms Sturgeon said, as reported by the BBC: “If the miscarriage hadn’t happened, would I be sitting here as First Minister right now?

“It’s an unanswerable question, I just don’t know. I’ve thought about it but I don’t know that answer.

“I’d like to think ‘yes’ because I could have shown that having a child wasn’t a barrier to all this, but in truth I don’t know.”