A Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP has launched his bid to be his party’s next leader.
Sources expect Alex Cole-Hamilton will not face a contest and he could be in line to take over from next month.
The vacancy arose after the resignation of Willie Rennie, who had led the Lib Dems north of the border for a decade.
His party slumped to just four seats at the last election and there had been speculation he would quit.
Cole-Hamilton, who has represented Edinburgh Western since 2016, unveiled his leadership in a video posted on social media.
The 44-year-old is a staunch critic of the SNP Government and was a member of the Scottish Parliament’s Salmond Inquiry last year.
In an article for the Edinburgh Evening News, he wrote: "It is the job of government to tackle inequality but, after 14 years in power, the SNP have failed to move the dial on child poverty, Scotland’s drug deaths are the worst in the developed world and the educational attainment gap between rich and poor remains devastating."
He added: "A massive opportunity exists for an alternative kind of thinking to break through in Scottish politics.
"One that can capture the votes of Scots who are tired of having to choose between those extremes.
"I want to drive that alternative, so I’m putting my name forward as a candidate to be the next leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
"I am an internationalist, I believe in forging unions with our neighbours wherever we can. I will always support our membership of the United Kingdom.
"But that doesn’t mean that I have to sign up to the Conservative vision of what that Union should look like."
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