Alex Salmond, who made political history yesterday when he was elected as the First Minister of Scotland, immediately gave notice to Gordon Brown that he intended to lead a cross-party drive north of the Border to win more powers for the devolved Parliament in Edinburgh.

Mr Salmond issued his warning to the Prime Minister-in-waiting only minutes after becoming the first Nationalist to win the top political job in Scotland. Mr Brown said during the Scottish election campaign that he did not believe that more powers for Edinburgh were necessary and that the Scottish Parliament should, instead, seek to exercise in full the powers that it already had.

Mr Salmond told MSPs: “Of course, in this part of the chamber we seek independence and equality for Scotland — not everyone agrees. But there is a broad consensus on the need for this Parliament to assume greater responsibility for the governance of Scotland. There is an understanding that we are engaged in a process of self-government.”

The statement appeared to contradict recent protestations by Mr Salmond that he would seek to cooperate with Mr Brown when the Chancellor eventually moves to No 10.

It also raised again the possibility of confrontation between Edinburgh and London, first laid out in the Nationalists’ First 100 Days document published in March, which promised conflict with Westminster over North Sea oil revenues, firearms, fisheries and welfare benefits as well as other issues.

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