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Alex Salmond wins First Minister vote |
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Wednesday, 16 May 2007 |
MSPs today voted for Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond to become the country's First Minister.
After Conservative leader Annabel Goldie and Liberal Democrat leader
Nicol Stephen were knocked out in the first round of voting, Salmond
took 49 votes to Labour leader Jack McConnell's 46. There were 33
abstentions.
Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson must now ask the Queen to confirm Salmond's nomination.
Salmond is expected to choose his team of ministers at 11.15am tomorrow, and this
is expected to consist of six senior ministers and 10 junior ministers.
Salmond congratulated previous First Minister Jack McConnell on
changing Scotland for the better with the ban on smoking and campaign
against sectarianism and added that he hoped to build on this work.
While conceding that Scotland looked ahead to a more reflective model
of democracy, Salmond said that a government led by him would "never
lack ambition for Scotland".
The gap between the rich and the poor needed to be addressed, Salmond
said, but he denied that Scotland was a divided nation, as some said
that the May 3 vote suggested. "We have a strong sense of ourselves, a
sense of community and above all a sense of the 'common weal' of
Scotland". Rather than being divided, Scotland was instead diverse, Salmond said, pointing to the election of the first Scottish-Asian MSP, Bashir Ahmad.
"Today I commit myself to leadership wholly and exclusively in the
Scottish national interest. We will appeal for support policy by policy
across this chamber.
"That is the Parliament the people of Scotland have elected and that is the Government that I will be proud to lead."
McConnell congratulated Salmond, but warned that
he had a "tough gig" ahead. He said that if Salmond showed wisdom and
distinction in his decisions, he would have Labour's full support, and
stressed that his party would not oppose for the sake of it.
He said that most parties needed "shepherds and butchers" and that
Salmond, as head of a minority administration, might need to be a
shepherd. Keeping to his sheep theme, he said that he often told young
people that if someone like him, the son of a sheep farmer, with no
political background or patronage could become First Minister of
Scotland then anyone could.
Goldie said that it was a "proud day for Alex Salmond" but that there
was a huge responsiblity on him and his colleagues now. Stephen agreed,
telling Salmond "Scotland's expectations rest on your shoulders".
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 16 May 2007 )
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