Wendy Alexander quits as leader

Wendy Alexander today announced her resignation as leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

The embattled leader said she was standing down with "deep regret".

The announcement comes after Holyrood's Standards Committee ruled she should be suspended from Parliament for one day for failing to declare to donations to her leadership campaign.

Earlier today, Labour MP David Marshall announced he is to quit the Commons, piling further by-election pressure on under-fire Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Ms Alexander's departure now presents Labour with the prospect of a leadership contest in Scotland.

She announced her resignation in a statement delivered before TV cameras at Scottish Labour headquarters in Glasgow.

Her voice still hoarse from a throat infection, and on the day after her 45th birthday, Ms Alexander announced her decision to resign following the decisions this week of Holyrood's Standards Committee.

Ms Alexander said: "I hope the events of recent days will lead to reflections by all MSPs and parliament officials on the appropriateness, objectivity and effectiveness of our current procedures.

"I acted in good faith and the written advice of parliamentary authorities.

"I believe there has been a breach of natural justice in a partisan decision," said Ms Alexander.

But she said the parliamentary process – "if not its conclusion" – deserved respect.

Ms Alexander said the row over the donations had become a "distraction" from the real issues facing Scotland.

Following Ms Alexander's announcement SNP Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon said: "This has obviously been a difficult decision for Wendy Alexander, and resignation offers her the opportunity to move on.

"While Wendy Alexander has been author of own misfortune, there can be no doubt that the information on her illegal campaign donation could only have come from within the inner circles of the Labour Party.

"For months, there has been an unanswered question in Scottish politics – who within Scottish Labour leaked the information which provoked the serious investigation, culminating in Wendy Alexander's resignation?

"As Labour face another leadership trauma, her likely successors would do well to watch each other as well as their political opponents.

"Decay from within is characteristic of the decline of the New Labour project, and Wendy Alexander's resignation is a symptom of this wider malaise."