Scottish nationalist victory ushers in new era

EDINBURGH, May 5 (Reuters) Politicians were preparing for tough talks on forming a new Scottish government today after an election win that nationalists hope could be a first step towards ending a 300-year-old union with England.

The Scottish National Party (SNP), who want independence from Britain, ended the 50-year dominance in Scotland of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour party in Thursday's elections, transforming the political landscape.

The SNP's capture of 47 out of the 129 seats in the Scottish parliament is a 20-seat improvement on its results in the 2003 elections and give it a one seat advantage over Labour.

SNP leader Alex Salmond will have to woo members of the Liberal Democrats, who won 16 seats, and the Green party with two seats to form a coalition that commands a majority or try to make do with a minority.

''I think there's a mood of change which is the evident thing from this election,'' Salmond said as he posed for photographs outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh with SNP lawmakers.

Alternatively, Labour and the Liberal Democrats could attempt to form their own coalition.

The 52-year-old Salmond said there had been informal conversations but so far no formal negotiations on coalition.

Whatever the results of those efforts, the SNP victory poses a headache for British finance minister Gordon Brown, the 56-year-old Scot who is almost certain to succeed Blair as prime minister in the next two months.

The SNP's success was a blow for his Labour party, which set up the devolved Scottish parliament in 1999 in the hopes it would satisfy demands for more autonomy. The parliament has powers over health and education, but London still rules on defence, foreign affairs and the economy.

REFERENDUM The results may also upset voters in England who fail to be amused by the irony that Scottish members of Britain's parliament in London may vote on policy affecting English health and education, while Scottish health and education remains the preserve of the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.

Dozens of Labour members of Britain's parliament in Westminster come from Scotland and several occupy key ministries and so Labour strongly resists any change to the status quo.

The SNP has pledged to hold a referendum in 2010 on Scottish independence from Britain -- a direct challenge to Labour which upholds the union with England.

That pledge may prove a difficulty during SNP negotiations for a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, who strongly oppose such a referendum.

''This is the sticking point and it's quite a serious sticking point,'' said John Curtice, politics professor at Strathclyde University.

Although the polls show that most Scots reject independence, some voters backed the SNP as a protest against a Labour party whose popularity has slumped over the Iraq war and a series of political scandals.

Curtice said the SNP win was unlikely to lead to the end of the union with England.

''A third of the country say they are in favour of independence and a third of the country voted for the SNP. The barriers are numerous,'' he said.

The SNP also opposes the British government's policies in favour of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.

Although the Scottish parliament has no powers over defence, an SNP government would oppose a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines, planned by the government, being based in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP's deputy leader, said.

''On the question of nuclear power, the Scottish parliament does have the ability to prevent new nuclear power stations and an SNP government would do that,'' she told the BBC.

REUTERS SM RAI2034