Scottish Leader Quits

Alex Salmond has decided to take the high road:

Alex Salmond, the Scottish first minister and leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, announced his resignation from both posts, effective in November.

Salmond said he was proud of the campaign for independence, and that now was the time to hold the UK leadership to its promises of shifting more autonomy to Scotland.

“We now have the opportunity to hold Westminster’s feet to the fire on the ‘vow’ that they have made to devolve further meaningful power to Scotland,” he said in a statement. “This places Scotland in a very strong position.”

Salmond may say whatever he wants, but the facts are that Scotland is in a weaker position vis-à-vis Westminster than it was on Wednesday, and that nobody keeps their job after losing a high-turnout election by ten points.

ALSO: I just turned in this week’s column, looking at yesterday’s vote and the future of Great Britain. I’ll post a link as soon as it goes live on the PJM home page.