Standing ovation for Alex Salmond's farewell speech

Alex Salmond has stepped down as SNP leader with a prediction that his successor, Nicola Sturgeon, will "make history" and secure independence for Scotland.

Scotland has now "changed utterly" as a result of the referendum vote he said.

He hailed Ms Sturgeon - who will be Scotland's first female first minister - as a "woman of extraordinary talent".

Mr Salmond told his successor: "Nicola, your contribution to where this party now stands has already been immense. "Your future contribution - I have no doubt - will be to make history."

He told the conference the "dream" of independence was "alive and well and will succeed".

Mr Salmond said that in the referendum - in which the Yes campaign secured 45% of the vote - Scotland had risen to "the challenge of change".

He said: "The people will not disappear back into the political shadows and the nation will not fade into the dark. This country has changed and changed utterly.

"That is the change which will carry us forward - forward to independence."

John Swinney, the Scottish Finance Secretary, has said it has 'been a joy' to sit at Alex Salmond's side.

In a speech at the SNP conference in Perth, Alex Salmond said that the Finance Secretary was 'Scotland's Merlin'.

Alex Salmond has used his final speech as SNP leader to proclaim that "Scotland will become an independent nation".

He also hailed a recent surge in the party's membership, telling delegates that the SNP now had 85,000 members.

Read: Nicola Sturgeon takes over as SNP leader

The Scottish Finance Secretary, John Swinney, has been called 'Scotland's Merlin' by Alex Salmond, who is speaking at the SNP conference in Perth.

Alex Salmond, speaking at the SNP conference, has said that Scotland "will become an independent nation".

Nicola Sturgeon has told ITV Border that she'll govern for the whole of Scotland, including our region. She'll take over from Alex Salmond as First Minister next week. Peter MacMahon reports from the SNP Conference in Perth.

Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to Alex Salmond giving the outgoing First Minister, who has taken the SNP from being a party of opposition to majority government at Holyrood, the "biggest thank you".

She also congratulated Mr Hosie, saying he would an "outstanding" deputy leader for the party, as she told him: "I look forward immensely with you at my side to leading this party to even bigger and better times ahead."

Ms Sturgeon was confirmed as the new SNP leader at the start of the party's annual conference in Perth.

She takes over the reins after Alex Salmond announced he was stepping down as both party leader and First Minister in the wake of the referendum defeat.