Scotland's First Minister

Alex Salmond (52) has been elected as First Minister for Scotland in the devolved parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh. Mr Salmond is the leader of the Scottish National Party, the largest party (by 1 seat) in the Scottish Parliament. The stated aim of his party is to lead Scotland towards independence. However, the SNP are heading up a minority administration, only having 47 out of the 129 seats in parliament. The other parties, apart from the Greens (who have joined the SNP in government) are all opposed to independence. An in-depth profile of Mr Salmond can be found here.

My personal opinion is that an SNP administration will lead to a distancing of Scotland from the rest of the UK, although a referendum on independence seems unlikely, with a majority in parliament seemingly opposed. The stated intention to wrest revenues from North Sea oil (extracted from Scottish latitudes) from the government in London looks set to meet with failure, and an independent Scotland stands to lose many millions of pounds in subsidies from Westminster. Playing on historical sentiments (like saying that the Act of Union 1707 was a mistake, and Scotland was wronged by England) are dangerous - just look what's happened in Northern Ireland as a result of looking back to a battle that took place in 1688.

However, I am prepared to give Mr Salmond the benefit of the doubt, and see how he and his administration manage.

Tags: scotland, first minister, salmond