SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon rules out coalition after falling short of a majority

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out a coalition after the party fell just two seats short of a second successive majority at Holyrood.

The SNP won 63 seats in yesterday's Scottish Parliament election after collecting 59 of the 73 constituency seats on offer plus four seats via the regional list.

However, speaking in front of Bute House, Sturgeon confirmed she will lead a minority government as was the case between 2007 and 2011.

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“I can confirm that when it reconvenes in the coming days I will ask the Scottish parliament to formally re-elect me as the first minister of Scotland,” she said.

“It will then be my intention to form and to lead an SNP government. With such a large group of MSPs elected I don’t intend to seek any formal arrangement with any other parties.”

Sturgeon added the SNP would seek to “find common ground and build consensus" among the parties, claiming she had been given a “precious opportunity to change this country for the better”, which she vowed to “seize with both hands”.

Her announcement came as Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson - fresh from her party more than doubling its numbers at Holyrood - called for the SNP leader to start the new parliament by ruling out another independence referendum.

The SNP's election manifesto said the Scottish Parliament should have the right to hold another referendum if there is "clear and sustained evidence" that independence has become the preferred option of a majority of the Scottish people, or if there is a "significant and material change in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014", such as Scotland being forced out of the EU against its will in next month's referendum.

"On the question of independence, the SNP will make our case with passion, with patience and with respect. But our aim is to persuade, not to divide," said Sturgeon. “We will always respect the opinion of the people now and in the future and we simply ask that other parties do likewise.”

However, Davidson, whose party leapfrogged Scottish Labour to become the second largest party in the Scottish Parliament, said: "Now that she has failed to win a majority, whatever claims the SNP were pursuing with regard to constitutional brinkmanship over the next five years have now been utterly shredded.

"No mandate, no majority, no cause - the SNP must now let Scotland move on. There has been a material change. And as she starts her new term of office, I hope Nicola Sturgeon makes it clear that she will now focus entirely on what she was elected to do: lead a devolved administration."