SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said Scotland's voice will be heard in Westminster "more loudly than it has ever been before" at a gathering of the party's newly-elected MPs.

But while her predecessor Alex Salmond said the historic election win had brought Scotland closer to independence, the First Minister insisted it would not influence the independence debate "one way or the other".

Sturgeon held a photo-call with the new raft of SNP MPs at South Queensferry in front of the iconic Forth Railway Bridge.

During the event which was attended by 54 of the party's MPs - two were stuck in the Highlands because of transport problems - Sturgeon said the group would represent the interests of all of Scotland, not just Yes voters or SNP supporters.

Describing herself as "bursting with pride" at the "unprecedented mandate" to protect Scotland's interests and press for an end to austerity, she said: "The people of Scotland have spoken and the people have placed their trust in the SNP to represent Scotland at Westminster as well as at Holyrood. Just as voters in almost every part of this nation of ours chose the SNP our pledge is that these 56 SNP MPs will represent the interests of all of Scotland.

"We will represent in Westminster, just as we do in the Scottish Parliament, people in every corner of our country, people who voted Yes in the referendum as well as people who voted No. People who voted for us on Thursday and people who did not."

The First Minister added: "Scotland has given the SNP a mandate on a scale unprecedented for any political party, not just in Scotland but right across the UK. We will use that mandate to speak up for and protect the interests of Scotland."

Sturgeon went on:"Scotland this week spoke more loudly and more clearly than ever before, and my message today to Westminster is this - Scotland's voice will be heard in Westminster now more loudly that it has ever been before."

She also said: "Our message to Westminster is simple, our message to the politicians of the other parties at Westminster is this one - no longer will Scotland be sidelined or ignored in Westminster. Our voice will be heard. Our interests will be protected."

After the event, both the First Minister and her predecessor Salmond who was elected the MP for Gordon on Thursday, were surrounded by TV cameras and reporters.

Asked if Scotland was now closer to independence, Salmond replied: "Yes. Because the SNP now has an overwhelming mandate from the Scottish people to carry forward Scotland's interests.

"The base of the confidence of the people in Scotland is growing all the time. Now, obviously, the timing of any future referendum is a matter for the Scottish people first and foremost. The matter of the tactics is certainly a question for Nicola Sturgeon."

But just minutes later, Sturgeon dismissed the suggestion that the election had brought Scotland closer to independence

She said: "The election wasn't about independence. I made that clear. The result of the election was not going to influence the independence debate one way or the other. So I'm not going to go back on that after the election."

Asked if the election had inevitably taken Scotland further towards independence, she went on. "No, I don't think it has necessarily. We'll only be independent when folk vote for that in a referendum, if there is another referendum in the future.

"So it might be unusual in politics, but what I said in the campaign about independence is what I stick to now. It wasn't a debate about independence."

Earlier, Salmond also called the election "the latest staging post in what seems the progress of the Scottish people" and said he was sure that independence would come in his lifetime.

He said: "We are not now the same country as we were a year ago. I think the biggest factor behind the massive, overwhelming mandate given to the SNP last Thursday is that this is a changed nation. A changed nation having gone through the referendum process. A changed nation and a better one."

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said: "These revealing comments show that when it comes to independence and a second referendum, Alex Salmond is a leopard who will never change his spots.

"He needs to remember that he was elected to serve the people of Gordon, not open a new front in a one-man constitutional crusade."

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: "No-one believes Nicola Sturgeon when she says this SNP representation is not obsessed with separation.

"She only wants to do things that bring independence closer, and we will see as much from the SNP's conduct over the next few years."

Many of the SNP's new MPs have linked the election to independence in their statements to activists when they applied for candidacies earlier this year.

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, Salmond's lawyer and MP for Ochil & South Perthshire, said a large bloc of SNP MPs would "build a platform to move on to independence".

Calum Kerr, MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, said a strong group of SNP MPs "will be a big step towards independence".

And Aberdeen North MP Kirsty Blackman said: "A strong, competent SNP presence at Westminster is the best way for Scotland to move towards independence."