Alex Salmond has said he will mount a fresh bid to secure the SNP leadership.

The former party chief announced on Thursday that he will seek the nationalist party's leadership for a second time.

At a new conference in Aberdeen, the Westminster MP for Banff and Buchan vowed that "Labour's free run in Scotland is over".

Salmond said that as a result of his decision, Nicola Sturgeon would not be running for the top jobs and would instead seek election as deputy leader.

Kenny MacAskill will also be supporting the campaigns of Salmond and Sturgeon, it was revealed

Salmond had already indicated that he intended to return to the Scottish parliament but had played down suggestions that he wanted to resume leadership of the party.

Seen as the nationalist's biggest hitter, he is viewed by many as the party's best chance to make in-roads into Labour's dominance north of the border.

But his decision to quit the leadership once already will lead to accusations that he will become a retread leader.

Explaining the U-turn, Salmond said it was due to Labour's failures and the support of SNP members.

"Over the last few weeks, a huge number of them have written, emailed and phoned me asking me to run. It is their intervention and theirs alone which finally convinced me to re-consider my decision and to seek office," he said.

Campaign launch

Setting out his stall, Salmond said he would be seeking to take on Labour at the next general election.

"From today, I am not just launching a campaign to be SNP Leader. Today I am launching my candidacy to be first minister of Scotland," he said,

"From this day forward Scotland has a choice - more of the managed decline and poverty of vision with Labour or a chance to start afresh with a united focussed Scottish National Party under my leadership.

"Labour is no more than a puppet administration in Scotland with the strings pulled by a prime minister who spills innocent blood by taking the country to war on lies and deceit."

Salmond said his plan to revitalise the SNP would focus on "the heart, the head and the soul of Scotland".

"Firstly, the party must re-discover its heart and re-assert its social democratic ethos. the common weal, the public interest, of Scotland is the guiding principle of our politics," he said.

"Secondly, the party has to lead with the head. No one in this world owes Scotland a living nor should we expect it. The SNP have an enterprise agenda in which this nation will reap our own harvest and ring our own tills...

"Thirdly the SNP must respect and foster the democratic and cultural soul of Scotland. We must experiment with new forms of democratic participation to counter apathy, indifference and cynicism."

Contenders

Salmond's decision pits him against the current deputy leader Roseanna Cunningham and former party chief executive Mike Russell.

Cunningham, the only MSP in the race, said she would contest the election and still hoped to win.

"My decision to stand was my own, I seek no endorsement other than that of the party at large," she said.

"I firmly believe that I am the person best placed to unite the party and to take us forward, to secure independence for our country."

Russell, who like Salmond is not a member of the Scottish parliament, said: "I am not afraid in any sense of a policy debate with Alex, not least because I used to write the lines for him, so I shall enjoy doing that."

Reaction

Following Salmond's announcement, Labour launched a stinging attack on its nationalist rivals.

"Cleary Alex Salmond agrees with me that there is no talent on the SNP benches in Holyrood," said Cathy Jamieson, Labour's deputy leader in the Scottish parliament.

"This is a man who not only takes his party for granted but has consistently taken the people of Scotland for granted.

"He believes  he can skip from parliament to parliament, saying one thing, but doing another."