Leader of the Scottish National party will stand down in November, as the vote foreshadowed months of constitutional turmoil

Alex Salmond declared he will stand down as Scotland's first minister and the leader of the Scottish National party after failing to secure a majority for independence, as the country's vote to remain in the United Kingdom foreshadowed months of constitutional turmoil.

After 55% of Scottish voters rejected independence, a higher margin than suggested by the final opinion polls of the campaign, Salmond, who has dominated Scottish politics for the past decade, said he would quit in November.

Looking drained after a grueling night, Salmond said it was time to move on. "The last seven years as first minister of Scotland has been the privilege of my life but I think that's a reasonable spell of service, and I think that we have to understand and recognise when it is time to give someone else a chance to move that forward," Salmond said in his resignation statement delivered at the first minister's residence at Bute House, in Edinburgh.

The challenge laid down by the result – achieved only after a lastminute series of concessions by the UK political parties – shifted to London. A months-long constitutional battle now seems certain. The Queen issued a rare public statement, urging unity after a divisive campaign.

After the final tally of votes, the no campaign won 55.3%, compared to 44.7% for yes. Despite the defeat, that figure was a high water mark for the independence movement and the Scottish National party.

Pro-union supporters celebrate as Scottish independence referendum results are announced at a 'Better Together' event in Glasgow, Scotland Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

David Cameron declared a "clear result" and promised a "devolution revolution" across Britain. "There can be no disputes, no reruns – we have heard the settled will of the Scottish people," the prime minister said.

The yes campaign scored four big successes, winning 53% of the vote in Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, 54% in West Dunbartonshire, 57% in Dundee and 51% in North Lanarkshire.

However, the no camp was victorious in 28 local authority areas. It won overwhelmingly in regions where it was expected to do well, including Edinburgh, Aberdeenshire and Borders, but also in areas that could have gone to the yes campaign, including Falkirk, Inverclyde, Eilean Siar and Clackmannanshire.

In the final count, the no camp clocked up 2,001,926 votes to 1,617,989 for yes.

Cameron acted to head off a revolt by rank-and-file Conservative MPs, worried that he had given too many concessions to Scotland in the last days of the campaign. Speaking in Downing Street shortly after 7am, the prime minister announced that the price for further devolution of powers to Scotland must be an agreement that only English MPs should be allowed to vote on legislation that affects England alone.

David Cameron: 'We have heard the voice of Scotland and now the millions of voices of England must be heard.' Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

But the Cameron plan angered Scottish nationalists, who had not been told that further powers for the Scottish parliament might be intertwined with constitutional progress over English affairs.

Cameron said: "I have long believed a crucial part missing from this national discussion is England. We have heard the voice of Scotland and now the millions of voices of England must also be heard.

"The question of English votes for English laws, the so-called West Lothian question, requires a decisive answer, so just as Scotland will vote separately on their issues of tax, spending and welfare, so too England as well as Wales and Northern Ireland should be able to vote on these issues.

"All this must take place in tandem with and at the same pace as the settlement for Scotland."

The leader of the opposition Labour party, Ed Miliband, countered with a demand for a constitutional convention to review voting arrangements at Westminster and the powers of English cities, and called for an elected second chamber to represent the regions and nations of the United Kingdom.

Pro-independence supporters console each other after a no vote in the Scottish referendum. 'The result is the beginning of a conversation, not the closing statement of a soliloquy.' Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

In Edinburgh, Salmond said he had made the decision to quit in the morning after the referendum result emerged: "For me right now there is a decision as to who is best placed to lead this process forward politically.

"I believe that in this new exciting situation, redolent with possibility, party, parliament and country would benefit from new leadership."

He said he would not accept the SNP's nomination to be a candidate for leader at the party's annual conference in Perth in November, allowing a new party leader to be elected.

Given the SNP's majority in the Scottish parliament, the new leader will also become first minister. Salmond is likely to be succeeded by his deputy Nicola Sturgeon, who has become a commanding figure in the independence campaign after being appointed by Salmond to lead the referendum process.

Speaking minutes after Salmond's announcement, Sturgeon said that she could think of "no greater privilege" than to succeed Salmond as SNP leader and first minister, but that the decision "is not for today".

This is the second time Salmond has resigned as leader of his party in dramatic circumstances: he stood down from his first stint as leader in September 2000, only a year after the newly established Scottish parliament was founded in Edinburgh.

Deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon after casting her vote in the referendum. Photograph: Gary Calton

In London, Cameron made clear that the constitutional reforms, including in Scotland, would not be delivered until after the general election, and that Scottish measures would proceed in tandem with changes in England. "We have heard the voice of Scotland and now the millions of voices of England must be heard," he said.

Cameron threw down a challenge to the Labour opposition to say whether it would agree to the introduction of English votes for English MPs, and announced that William Hague, leader of the House of Commons, would advance the issue in a special cabinet committee.

The prime minister, vindicated in his decision to stage a yes/no referendum, also revealed he had asked Lord Smith of Kelvin to implement the Scottish devolution reforms set out by the party leaders in the final weeks of the referendum campaign.

He announced that the government would shortly say more about the devolution of further powers to the cities and regions of the UK.

Miliband, the Labour leader, said the referendum was a vote from the Scottish people for change. "We know our country needs to change in the way it is governed and we know our country needs to change in who it is governed for. We will deliver on stronger powers for a stronger Scottish parliament, a strong Scotland."

But he said that would go beyond Scotland. "We will also meet the desire for change across England, across Wales, across the whole of the United Kingdom."

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, said the referendum "marks not only a new chapter for Scotland within the UK but also wider constitutional reform across the union".

Echoing the SNP's argument, he said a vote against independence was "clearly not a vote against change".

"We must now deliver on time and in full the radical package of newly devolved powers to Scotland," he added.

Yet that result raises the risk of further turmoil, with MPs from Cameron's Conservative party threatening to revolt against the prime minister's late and potentially vital vow to quickly increase the Scottish parliament's powers while protecting its spending.

Nigel Farage, leader of the rightwing Ukip party, said Cameron's offer of more devolution for England did not go far enough. "The English are 86% by population of this union. They've been left out of all of this for the last 18 years. We still have a situation where Scottish MPs can vote in the House of Commons on English-only issues. I think what most English people want is a fair settlement," he said.

The prime minister wants to move fast to show that the three main UK party leaders will live up to their commitments made during the referendum campaign to deliver what the former prime minister Gordon Brown called home rule within the UK.

Ministers believe it is important to move quickly to avoid a repeat of the 1980 referendum in Québec. The triumphalist behaviour of Ontario fuelled the separatist cause that nearly succeeded in a second referendum in 1995.

For the no campaign there was relief: a spate of authoritative polls in the final days of the campaign had said the vote was on a knife edge, bringing Yes Scotland within touching distance of victory after a dramatic surge in support.

Sterling jumped, reaching a new two-year high against the euro in Asian trading hours, as the referendum was called in favour of the no vote. The FTSE 100 opened 44 points higher.

The Press Association contributed to this report