'I'll get SNP back on track'

On 3 September, the Scottish National Party will have a new leader. Three candidates are competing for the post, Roseanna Cunningham, Mike Russell and Alex Salmond. Here, Mr Salmond sets out why he should lead the party in Scotland.

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If elected leader, I intend to lead the party to progress at next year's general election.

I intend to offer myself as the next first minister of Scotland and lead the party into government at the next Scottish elections in 2007.

Alex Salmond called for the party to rediscover its heart

In our joint manifesto, my running mate Nicola Sturgeon and I propose more than 40 policies to change the SNP and convince the country of the case for independence.

I believe that as a team, Nicola and I represent the ticket to success that the SNP needs.

Between us we have what it takes to appeal to all of Scotland - north and south, male and female, youth and experience.

If elected deputy leader, Nicola will lead for the SNP in Holyrood and I will lead the party from around the country, taking the case for independence to every town, village and city the length and breadth of Scotland.

To the cost of Scotland, a failing Labour Party with such mediocre leadership has been able to cling to power in the face of such a changing political landscape.

I did not anticipate that after the rebirth of Scottish confidence and democracy in 1999 that we should have made such pitiful progress as a nation.

Poverty blights too many of our citizens, economic growth and business opportunity remain stagnant.

The SNP must respect and foster the democratic and cultural soul of Scotland

The SNP needs to present an alternative vision of a confident and prosperous Scotland that can be brought about through independence.

We need to earn the trust and respect of the electorate and get the SNP back into fighting form.

Our prescription for success is clear. It involves the heart, the head and soul of Scotland.

The party must rediscover its heart and reassert its social democratic ethos.

The common weal, the public interest, of Scotland is the guiding principle of our politics.

The party has to lead with the head.

No-one in this world owes Scotland a living nor should we expect it.

'Celebrate achievements'

The SNP has an enterprise agenda in which this nation will reap our own harvest and ring our own tills.

Self-determination - independence - means taking responsibility for our success and failure.

The politics, as well as the economics of dependency, must end.

Finally, the SNP must respect and foster the democratic and cultural soul of Scotland.

We must counter apathy and celebrate all of Scotland's achievements - cultural, sporting, artistic - as well as learn from our mistakes.

Scotland is a great country, but we could be so much more with independence.

It is our job to make our fellow Scots seek independence in their hearts, their heads and their souls.