Jack McConnell re-elected First Minister in Scottish Parliament

Scottish Labour leader Jack McConnell has been re-elected First Minister of the Scottish Parliament.

In a vote this afternoon, Mr McConnell took 67 of the 127 available votes – due to the solid support of Labour and Liberal Democrat MSPs – in a contest against five other contenders.

SNP leader John Swinney took 26 votes, Conservative leader David McLetchie won 18, Green Robin Harper and Scottish Socialist leader Tommy Sheridan took 6 each, and independents Dennis Canavan and Margo McDonald each won 2 votes.

Although Mr McConnell has yet to announce the new Executive – which in turns needs to be ratified by the Parliament Minister by Minister – it is expected that Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace will again be Deputy First Minister.