Speaking from Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said:

"The demise of the SSP following the Sheridan split has a silver lining for progressive Scotland, as it will make it easier for the SNP to replace Labour at next year's Scottish Elections.  The SSP no longer a credible political group, and so their imminent failure at next year's elections will smooth the path towards the SNP becoming Scotland's largest party under Alex Salmond as First Minister.

"For the vast majority of Scots, breaking New Labour's grip on Scotland is an urgent priority, so the shenanigans of the SSP will assist that process by making the task of the SNP somewhat easier that it otherwise would have been.

"It is significant that polling conducted earlier this year by YouGov showed that a majority of former SSP voters would choose SNP as their new home. With this added boost, our plans to win our head to head race with Labour to win the next election are aided significantly.

"Only the SNP can beat Labour in next year's elections, and so the implosion of the SSP may play a small part in our victory next year."

NOTE

In a survey carried out in April this year, YouGov asked the following question to SSP voters:

Suppose for some reason there was no Scottish Socialist Party Candidate in your constituency, how would you vote?

The results were as follows:

Scottish National Party 43
Green   13
Labour  10
Liberal Democrat        8
Conservative    2
Some other party        4
Don't know      19