EDINBURGH, Scotland - Alex Salmond, leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, will be sworn in as first minister in the country's devolved parliament on Wednesday with a platform to push for a breakaway from the United Kingdom.

The SNP won 69 seats in the 129-seat parliament in elections this month, the first time any party has won an outright majority since Scotland gained devolved powers from London in 1999.

Salmond has promised to hold a referendum on ending the 304-year union with England in the next five years but is expected to bide his time as he tries to build support.

The SNP victory in the polls was seen as more of an endorsement of Salmond's stewardship of a minority government since 2007 than a resounding call for independence.

"The SNP was not seen as a threat but highly competent. I don't think the public are frightened of the SNP's independence agenda, but they don't support it yet," said James Mitchell, a professor at Strathclyde University.

Salmond is expected to use his acceptance speech at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Wednesday to press his demands for Scotland to gain greater autonomy in the form of enhanced borrowing powers and control over corporation tax.

The Scottish Parliament has responsibility for matters such as health, education and prisons but the bulk of its cash comes from a 30 billion pound ($50 billion) grant from UK government funds.

Eventual Scottish independence would raise questions over control of oil and gas fields in the North Sea, the division of debt and what would happen to defense installations in the country of five million people.

Polls show only around a third of Scots support independence, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to defend the UK as an entity.

The UK government's Scottish Secretary Michael Moore urged the SNP to set out the timing and wording of a planned referendum on independence quickly to avoid potential damage to the economy.

Salmond is unlikely to be hurried, seeking to build on the momentum of an election campaign when the SNP made huge progress at the expense of the three main British parties - the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and Labour.

Reuters