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| Scottish referendum: Salmond to go after Scotland No vote | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Alex Salmond is to step down as first minister of Scotland after voters decisively rejected independence. | |
| He will also resign as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) after the "No" side won Thursday's referendum by 2,001,926 to 1,617,989 for "Yes". | |
| The national split of the vote was 55% for "No" to 45% for "Yes". | |
| Mr Salmond said: "For me as leader my time is nearly over but for Scotland the campaign continues and the dream shall never die." | |
| Speaking from Bute House in Edinburgh, the first minister's official residence, he told journalists: "I am immensely proud of the campaign that Yes Scotland fought and particularly of the 1.6m voters who rallied to that cause." | |
| Mr Salmond, 59, who has led his party for a total of 20 years, also said there were a "number of eminently qualified and very suitable candidates for leader", although the current deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon, also deputy SNP leader, would be seen as a clear frontrunner. | |
| He said he would stand down as SNP leader at the SNP's conference in November, and then as first minister, when the party elected its next leader following a ballot of SNP members. | |
| 'Political initiative' | |
| But Mr Salmond said he would stay on as MSP for Aberdeenshire East, adding: "It has been the privilege of my life to serve Scotland as first minister. | |
| "But, as I said often during the referendum campaign, this is not about me or the SNP. It is much more important than that. | |
| "The position is this. We lost the referendum vote but can still carry the political initiative. More importantly Scotland can still emerge as the real winner." | |
| Mr Salmond also used his statement to question the pledge made by Prime Minister David Cameron and the leaders of the other pro-Union parties to deliver legislation on more devolved powers for the Scottish Parliament. | |
| "We now have the opportunity to hold Westminster's feet to the fire on the 'vow' that they have made to devolve further meaningful power to Scotland," he said, adding: "This places Scotland in a very strong position. | |
| "I spoke to the prime minister today and, although he reiterated his intention to proceed as he has outlined, he would not commit to a second reading vote (in the House of Commons) by 27th March on a Scotland Bill. | |
| "That was a clear promise laid out by Gordon Brown during the campaign. | |
| "The prime minister says such a vote would be meaningless. I suspect he cannot guarantee the support of his party." | |
| Mr Salmond's successor as first minister would need to be confirmed in a vote of the Scottish Parliament. |