Nicola Sturgeon has said she is “nowhere near” ready to quit as Scotland’s First Minister.
The SNP leader, who has been in post since November 2014, said she still hopes to lead the country to independence.
Her predecessor Alex Salmond stepped down after Scots voted to stay in the UK in September of that year.
Sturgeon insisted she has “plenty in the tank”, after New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern resigned saying she no longer had enough to fulfil the role.
Sturgeon told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show: “If I ever reach the point which she has clearly reached, where I just think overall I can’t give the job everything it deserves, then I hope I have the same courage she has had in saying ‘OK, this is the point to go’.
“But just for the avoidance of all doubt, I don’t feel anywhere near that right now, nowhere near.”
Sturgeon also said she would “like to think” she will be the leader who takes Scotland out of the UK.
During the exchange, Sturgeon was quizzed on Scotland’s changes to the gender recognition process.
The new law would make it easier for trans people to change gender by reducing the time the process takes and lowering the age at which it can happen to 16.
However, Rishi Sunak moved to block the reforms passed by Holyrood.
Sturgeon dismissed concerns of the UK government, insisting it is wrong to say the bill impacts on equalities legislation in the UK.
“I have not heard any argument about the impact on the Equality Act that I find in any way persuasive or compelling, because the act does not change the legal effect of a gender recognition certificate,” Strugeon said.
She defended the bill lowering the age at which a trans person can obtain a certificate from 18 to 16, saying there would be “greater advice and support available to what would be a tiny number of people of that age group wanting to go through this process”.
She also dismissed the concern of some women’s rights groups who fear the changes could help men gain access to women-only spaces.
“You don’t have to show your birth certificate to access women-only spaces,” she added.
“So this bill does not give a predatory man any more ability to abuse women than that predatory man already has.”