Nicola Sturgeon's 46th birthday: Five times the Scottish First Minister stood up to Westminster

From her allusion to pig-gate to her stand-out performance in the leadership debates, Ms Sturgeon has established herself as a force to be reckoned with

Ms Sturgeon has managed to establish herself as one of the most powerful women in British politics (Getty)

Confident and calm-tempered, Nicola Sturgeon takes her time when she speaks and looks her audience firmly in the eye. The Scottish First Minister, who was ranked the second most powerful woman in the UK by Forbes, is perceived by her supporters as the type of politician who congenitally instills trust in her supporters.

For this reason, Ms Sturgeon has consistently high personal popularity ratings. From her performances in the general election leadership debates to her most recent input into the Brexit debate, she has managed to establish herself as one of the most powerful women in British politics.

Here is a selection of the most formidable times Ms Sturgeon has stood up to Westminster and spoken her mind on her 46th birthday.

Her promise to reform Westminster for ordinary people

Ms Sturgeon promised her party would reform the “discredited Westminster system” for ordinary people living across the UK. During her keynote address to the SNP's spring conference, she said it was time to abolish the House of Lords where members are paid “£300 a day for just showing up”.

“As long as Scotland remains part of the Westminster system, we will be your allies in seeking to shake up and reform that outdated and discredited system once and for all,” she said. ”Westminster needs to change. To be more responsive to the needs and demands of ordinary people, wherever they are in the UK”.

Her allusion to Pig-Gate

SNP delegates went wild with applause after Ms Sturgeon accused the then Prime Minister Cameron of being “pig-headed” over his approach to Scotland following last year’s referendum. Her remark was perceived as an indirect reference to the widely publicised allegations that Cameron “inserted a private part of his anatomy” into a dead’s pig mouth during a university initiation ceremony.

“The Prime Minister's attitude to Scotland betrays the worst characteristics of his government - arrogant, patrician and out of touch. Pig-headed some might say,” Ms Sturgeon said.

Her take down of Boris Johnson during Brexit debate

Ms Sturgeon shot down the new Foreign Secretary's claim that Britain was sending £350m a week to the EU which would be better spent on "alleviating some of the problems in our NHS caused by uncontrolled immigration”.

While participating in an ITV debate on the EU with the leading Brexit campaigner and current Foreign Secretary, Ms Sturgeon challenged his argument Britain should leave Europe. She said Mr Johnson had previously called for people "to be charged for using the NHS" and now he was "the defender of it".

"I am staggered that Boris Johnson is now standing here still defending this £350m a week figure. It’s a scandal that is still emblazoned across the campaign bus because it is an absolute whopper."

"The statistics authority says so, the House of Commons select committee says so, everybody knows so. The contribution each of us makes to the EU every day is less than a pound, but what do we get for that money? We get freedom of travel, we get a single market of 500 million people, the chance to cooperate to keep us safer. These are the gains of being in the EU".

Her usage of the word "b******s"

Ms Sturgeon has described claims that the ascent of the SNP helped to contribute towards Cameron winning the 2015 general election as “b*****”.

Throughout the election campaign, the Conservatives argued Alex Salmond would influence a Labour-led administration if Ed Miliband was voted into power in an attempt to put people off voting for Labour.

When probed about the theory, Ms Sturgeon told Holyrood Magazine: “I’m not sure this a word I should use in an interview but it’s bollocks. Even if you try to unpack that argument, what’s the logical conclusion – that we shouldn’t have stood? That Labour should have been given a free run? I’m assuming that’s not what they’re arguing."

Her criticism of George Osborne

Ms Sturgeon condemned George Osborne’s announcement he would invest £500m in the Faslane navy base in a move that he says will secure 6,700 jobs on the site.

“This is an arrogant decision by the Chancellor to try to pre-empt the parliament’s decision on the replacement of Trident,” she said.

“It is also highly ironic. This is the same Chancellor who is slashing people’s tax credits and taking vital support away from disabled people. If he has £500 million to spend he would be better advised to spend it on health, education, giving young people the best start in life and reversing some of his cruel attacks on the most vulnerable people.”

Her post-Brexit strength

Within four hours of the last European referendum ballots being counted, Ms Sturgeon gave a press conference at Bute House. She said a second independence referendum was “highly likely” following the result and said it was “democratically unacceptable” that Scotland was facing the prospect of leaving the EU against its will. Ms Sturgeon also said the people of Scotland saw their future as part of the European Union.

“It is, therefore, a statement of the obvious that a second referendum must be on the table, and it is on the table,” she said at a news conference in Edinburgh.