Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Alex Salmond, announced his resignation Friday, shortly after Scotland voted to stay within the UK at a independence referendum on Thursday.
"The real guardians of progress are not the politicians at Westminster, or even at Holyrood, but the energised activism of tens of thousands of people who I predict will refuse meekly to go back into the political shadows," he said in a public statement made Friday evening.
"For me right now, therefore there is a decision as to who is best placed to lead this process forward politically. I believe that in this new exciting situation, redolent with possibility, Party, Parliament and country would benefit from new leadership," he said, adding that it was the privilege of his life to have served as Scotland's First Minister.
Stating that he had informed his party he would not be accepting renomination at the next party conference, Salmond said he would allow for a new First Minister to be appointed by parliamentary process.
"For me as leader my time is nearly over, but for Scotland that campaign continues and the dream shall never die."
Warning that Westminster parties should be made to keep to their promises and pledges made, he said,
"The real guardians of progress are not the politicians at Westminster, or even at Holyrood, but the energised activism of tens of thousands of people who I predict will refuse meekly to go back into the political shadows," he said in a public statement made Friday evening.
"For me right now, therefore there is a decision as to who is best placed to lead this process forward politically. I believe that in this new exciting situation, redolent with possibility, Party, Parliament and country would benefit from new leadership," he said, adding that it was the privilege of his life to have served as Scotland's First Minister.
Stating that he had informed his party he would not be accepting renomination at the next party conference, Salmond said he would allow for a new First Minister to be appointed by parliamentary process.
"For me as leader my time is nearly over, but for Scotland that campaign continues and the dream shall never die."
Warning that Westminster parties should be made to keep to their promises and pledges made, he said,
"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 by March 27 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."Speaking to reporters after his address, he added:
"Commitments were made, vows were made in the last stages of the referendum campaign. A clear, explicit timetable was laid out. I think the opportunity for Scotland is two-fold.Full text of his resignation speech reproduced below:
"One is to hold Westminster's feet to the fire to make sure there is no slippage from that timetable.
"I'm disappointed that the idea of a second reading vote seems to have disappeared already, as well as the Labour/Conservative common front on the issue.
"I am immensely proud of the campaign which Yes Scotland fought and of the 1.6 million voters who rallied to that cause by backing an independent Scotland.
"I am also proud of the 85% turnout in the referendum and the remarkable response of all of the people of Scotland who participated in this great constitutional debate and the manner in which they conducted themselves.
"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. 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 by March 27 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.
"But today the point is this. The real guardians of progress are not the politicians at Westminster, or even at Holyrood, but the energised activism of tens of thousands of people who I predict will refuse meekly to 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 politically.
"I believe that in this new exciting situation, redolent with possibility, Party, Parliament and country would benefit from new leadership.
"Therefore I have told the National Secretary of the SNP that I will not accept nomination to be a candidate for leader at the Annual Conference in Perth on November 13-15.
"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 will continue to serve as First Minister. After that I will continue to offer to serve as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeenshire East.
"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."
"For me as leader my time is nearly over, but for Scotland that campaign continues and the dream shall never die."