Wendy Alexander can begin preparing to face Alex Salmond at First Minister�s Questions, after efforts to put up a left-wing candidate against her as Scottish Labour leader foundered yesterday.

Wendy Alexander can begin preparing to face Alex Salmond at First Minister's Questions, after efforts to put up a left-wing candidate to stand against her as Scottish Labour leader foundered yesterday.

The Campaign for Socialism grouping said yesterday they did not have the support of enough MSPs to back a challenge. The announcement followed a meeting of around 300 members of the group, which includes five Labour MSPs, in Glasgow.

Gordon McKay, the group's spokesman, said a leadership election was an "opportunity for debate", but added: "We are two MSPs short of getting a name on a ballot paper, so at the moment we do not have a candidate."

However, he insisted that the group's members would continue to push for an opportunity for debate on various policy issues.

Nominations for the leadership of the party, which has 46 MSPs at Holyrood, close at noon tomorrow and it now seems certain that Ms Alexander will be the sole nominee.

A spokesman for the Labour Party said: "Under Labour Party rules, a candidate requires six nominations - essentially themselves plus five colleagues. After the close of nominations, the Procedures Committee will meet to validate nominations and set out the next stages of the process."

A spokesman for Ms Alexander's campaign said: "Wendy has said all along that she doesn't fear a contest but if there's no other nominee she will still be holding a series of meetings the length and breadth of Scotland to listen to the views of Labour members."

Meanwhile, Alex Salmond has told The Herald he plans to use disunity within the opposition to drive through his legislative programme, believing most proposals can win the support of at least one rival grouping.

Marking the end of his first 100 days in office, the First Minister cited success in winning 25 out of 26 policy votes during the early weeks of his administration.

He said Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Greens are willing to listen to his ideas, and challenged Labour to support the SNP administration on good ideas when they are proposed.

The parties only united to defeat them on a vote that backed spending more than £500m on trams in Edinburgh. Last week, they also joined forces to oppose his independence planning.

"It's not the case that the three opposition parties are going to unite on everything," Mr Salmond said. "In fact, it looks like on most subjects they won't agree with each other, and all we require is for any of those parties to support the government and we've got a majority."

The First Minister was speaking to The Herald ahead of a holiday in Scotland and Ireland. His 100th day in office falls on Friday, with the executive publishing its own report card. He described it as "a whirlwind", adding: "I'm having a great time."

Looking ahead to autumn, the First Minister said early indications from the Treasury about the budget block grant, to be announced in October or November, are that the next three years' spending will be "much, much, much tighter" than over the past eight years.

There was a promise the gap left in council budgets by his proposed three-year freeze in council tax will be met in full. That has been put at a £70m bill next year, rising to £210m by 2010-11.

A weekend poll appeared to support Mr Salmond's gradualist approach to independence. Although fewer than a quarter told YouGov they would vote for full independence now, 60% believe it will come eventually and 61% said they would consider voting for it in the future.

A clear majority, 74%, were in favour of a referendum, and their current intention in such a ballot would be 23% for independence, 39% for more powers to be devolved to Holyrood and only 20% for the status quo, according to the poll for the Sunday Times.