Alex Salmond wins overall majority at Holyrood and promises to hold referendum on break from United Kingdom
Alex Salmond touched down on the manicured lawns of one of Edinburgh's exclusive hotels in his campaign helicopter, Saltire One, after securing the most stunning victory in recent Scottish political history – a win that has the potential to change the fabric of the United Kingdom.
The scale of the SNP's victory was clear: Salmond had won Holyrood's first overall majority and a total of 69 seats – a result he believes has swept aside his opponents' last hopes of blocking his plans for a referendum on independence. No wonder he gave waiting reporters and supporters the thumbs up.
The statistics were devastating: the SNP took Labour seats in every city in Scotland and, Orkney and Shetland aside, wiped out the Liberal Democrats. The SNP's vote jumped by 13%, while Labour's dipped.
The SNP leader stated he had the "moral authority" to deliver a referendum within the next five years, setting in train one of the most significant constitutional battles to face a modern UK government. Lawyers and opposition parties insist the referendum plan is outside Holyrood's powers, a claim Salmond has previously dismissed.
Salmond declared: "Just as the Scottish people have restored trust in us, we must trust the people as well. Which is why, in this term of the parliament, we will bring forward a referendum and trust the people on Scotland's own constitutional future."
David Cameron, the prime minister, acknowledged that the SNP had won an "emphatic" victory but warned that he would vigorously oppose Salmond's referendum plans.
After pledging to work constructively with Salmond where possible, he stated: "On the issue of the United Kingdom, if they want to hold a referendum I will campaign to keep our United Kingdom together with every single fibre I have."
Labour's Scottish leader, Iain Gray, announced he would stand down in the autumn after watching Labour lose seven seats. He very narrowly avoided a humiliating defeat in his own constituency, East Lothian, surviving an SNP challenge by 151 votes, and said there were "many hard lessons" to learn.
The scale of the SNP victory is also wounding for Ed Miliband, who had pledged that a Labour victory in Scotland would give his party a new platform to challenge Cameron at Westminster, and humiliating for Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader.
The SNP's landslide was substantially due to a Scotland-wide collapse in Lib Dem support in protest at its coalition in London, with hundreds of thousands of voters switching to the SNP.
The Lib Dems lost former strongholds in North East Fife, the seat held at Westminster by former UK party leader Menzies Campbell, and in Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, where the previous UK leader, Charlie Kennedy, holds the equivalent Commons seat.
The SNP took 45.4% of the constituency vote and 44.7% of the regional vote. Salmond said: "For the first time, we're living up to the idea that we're the national party of Scotland, all classes, all communities, all parts of Scotland; we will do our absolute best to redeem the people's trust."
The UK government faces an immediate battle with Salmond over his demands to greatly strengthen existing proposals in the Scotland bill which is currently going through Westminster.
The bill – which was devised by Labour, the Tories and Lib Dems in an ill-fated attempt to quash SNP demands for independence – already proposes to give Holyrood powers to set its own income tax rates, modest new legal powers, and authority to borrow up to £2bn to finance public works.
Within days, Salmond is likely to set out fresh demands for Scotland to be allowed to set its own corporation tax, similar to plans for the Northern Ireland government, and to significantly raise borrowing powers to £5bn.
From early on Friday there had been roars of victory from SNP activists and candidates in counting halls across Scotland as some of the strongest seats held for decades by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Tories were toppled. Across much of Scotland, Salmond's party cleared the board.
The SNP won every constituency seat in Aberdeen and the surrounding area, it has every seat in Dundee and Tayside, it won five out of eight constituencies in Glasgow and four out of five in Edinburgh. Its victory also increases the tension with Labour, which still dominates Scottish seats at Westminster, holding 41 to the SNP's six.
Labour lost a host of MSPs who have served since 1999 and former ministers Tom McCabe, Andy Kerr and David Whitton. Their rout came despite doorstep campaigning on polling day by former prime minister Gordon Brown, his wife, Sarah, and 10,000 activists branded "Labour's volunteer army".
Labour now has only two seats north of the central belt, in Dumbarton, near Glasgow, and Cowdenbeath, after losing several key seats in Fife.
The scale of its defeat forced Labour to grapple with an immediate leadership crisis and bitter, public recriminations on the quality of Labour's campaign. Henry McLeish, a former Labour first minister, said his party had suffered "a drubbing". He added: "It has been the most negative campaign I have seen. What do we stand for? What are we offering Scotland? The obvious conclusion is that they didn't want us."The unexpected losses of possible leadership contenders such as Andy Kerr and David Whitton dramatically reduced Labour's options, officials admitted. "We're having to make a radical reappraisal of the situation," said one official.
Salmond was jubilant at the scale of the SNP's triumphs and scathing about his Labour opponents. "This idea that Labour had ownership of parts of central Scotland, well that's gone for ever, hasn't it?" he said, shortly after winning the new seat of Aberdeenshire East with a 15,295 majority. "It's a bit like the American bison. I dare say we will still see one or two dotted about here and there, but the great herds of Labour they have gone for ever."
Salmond said voters were motivated by the SNP's positive and optimistic campaign, and repulsed by Labour's negativity and its attacks on the SNP's plans for independence.
"A positive campaign will always trump a negative campaign," he said. "People are motivated by that, that's why they come out and vote. They're not going to be motivated by Labour's ridiculous scare mongering and fearmongering against Scottish independence."
On Monday all 129 new MSPs will be sworn in. Many of them had never expected to be elected. Some are political novices. The SNP admitted it was shocked by the scale of its victory; its internal estimates had shown it would take up to 56 seats. Holyrood's proportional system, which ensures all parties are equally represented with 56 regional "top-up" seats, was designed to prevent one party gaining overall control.
The Tories were saved from losing some of their best-known figures, including David McLetchie, the former party leader who was stunned to lose his once safe seat of Edinburgh Pentlands by 1,758 votes to the SNP. The party had insisted all its candidates "doubled up" by also standing in the regions: McLetchie is top of the Lothians regional list.
Annabel Goldie, the Tory leader, said: "More than ever Scotland needs a party which will stand up to the excesses of nationalism and bring reality to Scottish politics. That will be the Scottish Conservatives' task in the months and years to come. We will be driven by one consideration: what is in the best interests of Scotland."
Based on his new lead over Labour, Salmond will now be able to push through a dramatic programme of policy and public service reforms, including a minimum pricing scheme for alcohol that his opponents insist is illegal; cutting Scotland's eight police forces to three or one; freezing the council tax for a further five years; and pressing ahead with contentious plans to generate 100% of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
But there will be a bigger mission: to persuade the people of Scotland, who currently disapprove of independence by more than two to one, that they should leave the UK. For some party loyalists that dream is now very much alive. When Salmond arrived for his final day of campaigning in the Borders town of Peebles on Wednesday, one father, cradling his daughter in his arms, invoked the ancient folk hero of Scottish independence, shouting out: "You're our modern William Wallace, Alex!"
Q and A
What are the chances of a referendum on independence for Scotland?
SNP leader Alex Salmond claimed before polling day that victory would give him the "moral authority" to hold a referendum on independence. His promised referendum at the 2007 election was repeatedly blocked by other Holyrood parties. His new overall majority removes that barrier, but Salmond needs to persuade Scotland's voters to support separation. The most recent opinion polls show backing for independence hovers at 25% to 35%; Salmond will not stage a plebiscite and risk clear defeat.
How is Salmond going to get enough support to win?
He will immediately begin making the case for much greater powers for the Scottish parliament, building public appetite for greater autonomy over the next four years by exposing the limits to Holyrood's authority and powers.
He will argue his landslide victory gives him a clear mandate to press for more financial freedom, such as setting a Scottish rate of corporation tax, but will focus heavily on reassuring voters that an SNP government is efficient, competent and effective.
The SNP could hedge its bets by offering a third option for wavering voters: fiscal autonomy within the UK, where Scotland runs everything except foreign affairs and defence.
Does Salmond have the power and authority to stage a referendum?
This is hotly contested: Salmond's critics insist it would be illegal: the Scotland Act which set up the parliament says staging a referendum or undertaking any constitutional reform is reserved for Westminster.
Scottish government and UK government lawyers have confirmed this, say former Labour government officials. The presiding officer of the Scottish parliament is also required to confirm legislation is legal.
Salmond has argued he wants an "indicative referendum" which would give him political, rather than legal, authority to negotiate for independence. Unlike Thursday's AV referendum, it would therefore not be legally binding.
What would an independent Scotland look like?
Salmond insists independence would be far less disruptive than many fear. He wants a partnership of equals between Scotland and the rest of the UK, with a close "social union" between the countries. The Queen would remain head of state, Scotland would initially keep sterling (a measure which means the Bank of England would still set Scottish interest rates) and hope to remain in the EU.
His critics claim Scotland has no automatic right to EU membership; Salmond disputes this. But Scotland would also get about 90% of North Sea oil and gas revenues, but have to pay off a big chunk of the UK's national debts.