NICOLA Sturgeon is on the verge of making history as the first female leader of the SNP.

The politician is expected to take the reigns less than a month after the independence referendum which changed the face of politics in Britain.

Alex Salmond, who has been leader of the SNP twice, announced his resignation following a vote in favour of the union on September 18.

No other SNP party members have stepped up to challenge Ms Sturgeon's bid for leader, with the deadline for nominations closing today at 4pm.

If she succeeds, Scotland will become the first country in the world where all three major political party leaders are women.

Despite Ms Sturgeon's bid for leadership being so far uncontested, Keith Brown, Angela Constance and Stuart Hosie are all running for the role of deputy.

Two more ministers last night announced their backing of Mr Brown - Roseanna Cunningham and Margaret Burgess.

They follow Glasgow's Humza Yousaf, health secretary Alex Neil and public health minister Michael Matheson in showing support for the transport minister.

Ms Cunningham said: "Keith is an excellent minister and a good colleague. He is absolutely dependable and his achievements in Government show that he can succeed in difficult circumstances.

"With the incredible expansion in SNP membership we need a depute leader with exceptional organisational skills and the one man who fits that bill perfectly is Keith.

"I've been impressed with the thinking that's gone into Keith's plans for the party; I like the way he's talking about engaging all of the members, new and old, and working out how to develop policy in a party that counts more than 1.5% of the population as members now."