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Salmond begins coalition talks

By Sarah Smith

Updated on 05 May 2007

The Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond says his party has begun informal exploratory talks with some of the other parties to try to thrash out which of them will form Scotland's new administration.

The SNP's one-seat victory over Labour means Mr Salmond is leading the biggest ever contingent of MSPs in the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Salmond attended the first meeting of the SNP's new parliamentary group of 47 MSPs today in Edinburgh.

Speaking in a photocall outside Holyrood later, he told reporters: "We are still to have discussions over the next few days and we'll approach them constructively.

"We've had conversations informally, but there's been no formal negotiations as yet.

"During the election we expressed a preference for a coalition and that's certainly my preference.

"Who'll be first minister is a matter for the Scottish parliament, and there will be a vote on that in the next 26 days.

"The people have spoken and the view of the country is quite clear. All politicians have to remember the conversation we've just had with the electorate."

The Lib Dems and the Greens must now consider whether or not to enter coalition talks with the SNP.

A Nationalist-dominated rainbow coalition, along with the Lib Dems' 16 seats and the Greens' two seats, is one option.

The three parties have a combined total of 65 seats - just enough to form a majority at Holyrood.

The Greens would support the SNP's policy of a referendum on independence in the first term, but such a move would be opposed by the Lib Dems.

Meanwhile, Labour said today that the SNP could not interpret the election result as a vote for independence.

A party spokesman said: "We recognise the SNP are the largest party, but we also recognise that they have only 47 seats out of 129, that there is a large majority against separation, and that no party has the moral authority to govern without securing the support of others.

"Any attempt to suggest otherwise is premature at this stage. "This election result demonstrates that the people of Scotland do not want separation to be Scotland's national priority."

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling, a Scottish MP and former Scottish Secretary, also denied that Scotland had voted for independence.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "A lot of people voted for the SNP for a variety of reasons but a lot of them do not want independence."

But Nicola Sturgeon, deputy leader of the SNP, said today that voters would expect her party to deliver its manifesto promise of a referendum on independence.

"It's clear that we now have the moral authority to form the new government of Scotland," she told Today.

And she insisted: "There will be an independence referendum if there is an SNP government."

Liberal Democrat MSP Iain Smith said his party would consider all the options available in coalition negotiations.

If Mr Salmond does become First Minister, he has already pledged to hold an independent judicial inquiry into the chaos which blighted the election.

An estimated 100,000 ballot papers were discounted across Scotland, because they were classed as spoilt.

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