Premier-designate Alex Scott last night took the first step towards healing a divided party and will within the next few days have to organise a Cabinet team that can work together effectively.

Mr. Scott said he hoped to include Jennifer Smith, who resigned as leader last night, among his choices for Cabinet posts.

"She is a very talented, valuable colleague," he said. "She has much to offer and I think that in the next few days she and I would have a discussion. I think what we've achieved tonight is bringing the entire party together so we could call upon all of our resources and Ms Smith is one of those resources."

It is unclear what role Ms Smith or any of the other newly elected Progressive Labour Party MPs will assume but it is likely that the number of Cabinet posts will be reduced from 13, as was promised in the PLP election platform, as well as a move towards making Ministers full-time.

Mr. Scott said there would have to be discussions with his fellow Parliamentarians as to what form the new Cabinet would take.

It is uncertain whether the Cabinet reorganisation - which Ms Smith announced on Friday and including the creation of new Ministries of Justice, Infrastructure and Land, Sea and Air - will remain.

However, the appointments she made to the ten-member Cabinet, consisting of seven full Ministers, two junior ministers for Community Services and Housing and the Premier, have been nullified by her resignation.

Ms Smith named her chief of staff Lt. Col. David Burch as Home Affairs Minister, while Paula Cox was to take on a Ministry of Justice and Education, as well as become Attorney General, and Neletha Butterfield was to be the new Minister for Infrastructure, which includes housing and works and engineering.

A Minister of Land, Sea and Air, whose responsibilities would include the environment and transport, was not named by Ms Smith because her offers were refused by the group of dissident PLP MPs who eventually brought about her ousting.

After last night's leadership change, it remains likely that Paula Cox will take on the role of Attorney General, as she is the only PLP MP who is a lawyer, although it is possible the post would be given to a newly appointed Senator.

Ms Cox said last night she would be happy to serve again, but noted: "It depends on what I am asked to do. I don't see me as any Works and Engineering Minister."

Ren?e Webb may continue on at the Ministry of Tourism, although another possibility for that post is former Community Affairs and Sport Minister Randy Horton.

Whatever happens, Wayne Perinchief was one PLP MP who saw Mr. Scott's appointment last night as a step in the right direction and he described Ms Smith as "a micromanager".

"(Mr. Scott) will operate in a spirit of collaboration. He doesn't have a lot of flair or panache but he is a practical and a thorough leader. In his first term, all he has to do is delegate. All he has to do is be the leader of the team.

"Ms Smith was not inclusive. She didn't use all of the intellectual resources that were at her disposal, in terms of using the full scope of her back bench and Cabinet."