In the past few minutes, Alex Salmond has told a press conference that he is resigning as leader of the SNP and will stand down as First Minister.
Accusing David Cameron of already reneging on the timetable promised by Gordon Brown for the legislation enabling the transfer of powers from Westminster to Holyrood, Salmond said:
‘The Prime Minister said such a vote would be meaningless. I suspect that he can’t guarantee the support of his party and as we have already seen in the past hour, the common front between Labour and Tory, Tory and Labour, is starting to break.’
But he added that
‘The real guardians of progress are no longer politicians at Westminster, or even at Holyrood, but the energised activism of tens of thousands of people who I predict will refuse to meekly go back into the political shadows.
‘For me right now, therefore, there is a decision as to who is best placed to lead this process forward. I believe that this is a new, exciting situation that’s redolent with possibility. In that situation, I think that party, parliament and country would benefit from new leadership.
‘Therefore I have told the national secretary of the Scottish National Party that I shall not accept nomination for leader at the annual conference in Perth on 13 and 15 of November. After the membership ballot, I will stand down as first minister to allow the new leader to be elected by due parliamentary process. Until then I shall continue to serve as First Minister, after that I shall continue to offer myself as member for the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeenshire East.’
He told journalists in the Q&A afterwards (those who had made it in there: three news organisations were banned and the Guardian refused to attend after the Scottish government insisted on picking the reporter who would be let in) that he had decided to stand down this morning. ‘If nominated, I’ll decline,’ he joked.
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