Nicola Sturgeon has warned David Cameron that Scotland's voice "must be heard" in the wake of the SNP's landslide victory and it cannot be business as usual between Westminster and Scotland.

 

The two leaders, who spoke briefly yesterday in London after the Conservatives won a 12 seat majority in the General Election, are due to hold private talks soon.

There the First Minister will press the Prime Minister for an end to austerity and call for the Smith Commission proposals on extra powers for Holyrood to be "looked at again".

After her party won 50 per cent of the votes cast in Scotland compared to just 20 per cent in 2010, securing 56 out of 59 MPs, Ms Sturgeon said: "The political firmament, the tectonic plates in Scottish politics, have shifted. What we are seeing is a historic watershed."

Speaking at Westminster, where she attended the 70th anniversary VE Day commemorations, the SNP leader went on: "It can't be business as usual in terms of how a Westminster government relates to and treats Scotland and that message has to be heard loudly and clearly.

"We're not here to disrupt or destroy, we're here to get the best deal for Scotland and everything the group does down here will be designed to achieve that," she added.

After a night of high drama, the election result unexpectedly gave the Tory leader a slender majority; all the opinion polls had pointed to a hung parliament.

The Conservatives won 331 seats, up 24 on 2010, Labour 232, down 26, the SNP 56, up 50, the Liberal Democrats eight, down 49, the Democratic Unionist Party was unchanged on eight and Ukip won its one and only seat at a general election.

It led to the swift resignations of Ed Miliband as Labour leader, the LibDems' Nick Clegg and Ukip's Nigel Farage, who failed in his bid to win the Kent seat of South Thanet.

After visiting Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen, the Prime Minister, who described the election result as "the sweetest victory of all", told a large gathering of journalists in Downing Street: "We will govern as a party of one nation, one United Kingdom. That means ensuring this recovery reaches all parts of our country from north to south, from east to west."

He pledged that he would ''stay true to my word'' and implement plans for further devolution to Scotland, which had already been drawn up ''as fast as I can''.

Mr Cameron, who will spend the weekend forming a new government, promised to govern with respect, recognising the fact the different nations of the UK had their own governments as well as the UK Government.

''Both are important and indeed with our plans, the governments of these nations will become more powerful with wider responsibilities."

He stressed: ''In Scotland, our plans are to create the strongest devolved government anywhere in the world with important powers over taxation.''

More generally, the PM claimed the UK was "on the brink of something special" and insisted real opportunities lay ahead.

"Together," he declared, "we can make Great Britain greater still."

But the Tory leader came under fire from his former Coalition partner for his stance on Scotland.

Lord Ashdown , the former LibDem leader, who co-ordinated his party's election campaign, said: "He has used the fear of Scottish Nationalism to drive people to the polls. He must rise above the fear that he has created and he has benefited from. I hope he will; I wish him well.

"But if that is not the case, we then get a country that is more riven and the Union more endangered than ever before," he added.

Meantime, Mr Clegg, who fell on his sword after the party crumbled to a rump of eight MPs, said in another dig at Mr Cameron: "It's no exaggeration to say that in the absence of strong and statesman-like leadership, Britain's place in Europe and the world and the continued existence of our United Kingdom itself is now in grave jeopardy."

Mr Miliband focused in his resignation speech on maintaining the Union, saying the UK was the best way to serve all the nation's people.

"More unites us than divides us across the UK," he declared, urging his party to "rise to the challenge to keep our country together".

"Britain needs a strong Labour Party, so that it can have a government that stands up for working people. Never give up in the Britain you believe in," he declared.

Reflecting on Labour's devastating result, Mr Miliband said he took "absolute and total responsibility" for it, offering apologies to defeated big Labour beasts, including Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander.

Addressing an audience of noisy and passionate activists at a Westminster venue, he said: "We have come back before and this party will come back again."

Later on Twitter, his brother David Miliband said: "Heart goes out to great colleagues who lost seats, Labour teams who worked so hard and of course to Ed. Deep and honest thinking required to re-build progressive politics."

The latter remark will be interpreted by some as a possible sign that the former Foreign Secretary might still be open to returning to frontline British politics.