Scottish First Minster John Swinney said Alex Salmond “left a fundamental footprint on Scottish politics” as he paid tribute to his late former party leader.

Mr Salmond, who led the SNP before later founding the Alba party, died at the age of 69 on Saturday afternoon from a suspected heart attack during a trip to North Macedonia.

The former first minister had made a speech at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Forum before collapsing at lunch in a crowded room.

The Alba party said it understood he had suffered a heart attack, although there will be a post-mortem examination to confirm the cause of death.

Speaking on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Swinney said that as well as leaving a footprint on Scottish politics, Mr Salmond “inspired a generation” to believe in independence.

Asked about his abiding memory of Mr Salmond, he said: “Obviously, I worked very closely with Alex Salmond, and I suspect the moment where I was most touched by what he did was when I was driving to Edinburgh on the day after the 2007 election, and I listened to him speaking on the radio when he arrived in Edinburgh, and he talked about Scotland had changed and changed forever and would never be the same again because of our election win in 2007.

“And it was a deeply emotional moment for me, because I heard my party leader at the time indicating that we’d taken a colossal step forward on our journey to independence, and I fondly remember that moment, and what it meant to me is signifying the progress that we had made.”

He was also asked about Mr Salmond’s break with the SNP, and the “bitterness” that arose between Mr Salmond and his protegee Nicola Sturgeon in the last few years.

The First Minister replied: “Obviously, it’s been a very difficult few years, and there will be time to reflect on all of those issues in the days to come. But I think today, I think all of us can recognise the formidable contribution that Alex Salmond made.”

Mark Donfried, director of the Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, told the PA news agency said he witnessed Mr Salmond’s collapse at the conference in North Macedonia.

“He was here the last few days, he gave excellent participation two days ago at the panel discussion,” he said.

“He was really in the best of spirits, the best of health, and I was sitting across from him at lunch yesterday when all of a sudden he just went out and fell into the arms of a colleague of mine on the other side of the table.

“I immediately got up and ran to call an ambulance and when I came back, he was on the floor.”

He was my mentor, and for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in UK politics

Mr Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and was leader of the SNP on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014.

He resigned as first minister after the 2014 Scottish independence referendum resulted in a 55% to 45% vote to stay in the UK.

He launched his rival Scottish independence party, Alba, in 2021 after his relationship with his successor Nicola Sturgeon fractured.

His final post on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before his death, ended “Scotland is a country not a county”.

Tributes from political contemporaries praised him for his decades in politics and efforts to move Scotland closer to independence.

His former colleague Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged the “breakdown” of her relationship with Mr Salmond but praised him for taking Scotland to the “brink of independence”.

“He was my mentor, and for more than a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in UK politics,” she wrote.

A commemoration for Mr Salmond was also held in the North Macedonian city of Ohrid, attended by President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, who is reported to have extended her condolences over the death of the former first minister.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of Alex Salmond, former first minister of Scotland, who died in North Macedonia on Saturday.

“The FCDO is in touch with the local authorities.”