Nicola Surgeon appointed Scottish National Party Leader

At the Scottish National Party conference in Perth, Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Southside, was appointed as the new party leader. She paid tribute to Alex Salmond, who has just stood down saying: "We owe him the most enormous debt of gratitude. Lets us thank him from the bottom of our hearts."

Nicolas Sturgeon, who will become Scottish First Minister next week, told delegates that although the SNP had seen a surge in support and increase in membership, there was still much to do. She said:

 "I believe today as strongly as I ever have, perhaps more strongly than I ever have, that we will be independent." She went on to say:

 "So our task remains as it has always been - not to impose our will, not to berate those who disagree with us but to persuade - respectfully and intelligently through the strength of our arguments and the power of our actions - to persuade the majority of our fellow Scots that the best future for our country, the way to build a more prosperous more successful country and a fairer society, is for us to become a normal independent nation."

The SNP now has its sights on next years UK General Election and increasing the number of its MP's in the UK parliament. This comes as polls show that the Labour Party, its main opposition in Scotland, continues to lose support to the SNP.