Highland Council is set for a new leader following the SNP's defeat of Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander in last week's General Election.

The new SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Drew Hendry, has been leader of both the council and the SNP group. It leads the multi-party coalition which also embraces the Liberal Democrats and Labour.

But Mr Hendry will step down from his council role and Cromarty Firth councillor Maxine Smith has been elected to be new leader of SNP Group. Consequently she is almost certain to be confirmed as leader of the council as well.

She had been the council's budget leader and won praise for the way she worked with the opposition Independent councillors when working through a difficult plans to save £55m over four years.

She said:: "I am delighted and honoured to have been selected by my colleagues to lead them at Highland Council and I look forward to working for the good of constituents across the region. I will continue to operate in a fair and open fashion whilst shaping policy and getting the results that help the people of the Highlands.

"Drew Hendry has been an excellent leader whom I have worked closely with over the past number of years very successfully. I want to thank him for his enormous efforts on behalf of the SNP, the Council and the constituents. I am sure he will do an equally superb job at Westminster. I also want to thank my colleagues for the opportunity to lead and I can assure everyone that I will be working extremely hard as we face the challenges ahead."