Category: Speeches

Below is the text of the speech made by the Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, to the 2013 SNP Spring Conference.

A week is indeed a long time in politics.

On Thursday we announced the date of the independence referendum – Scotland’s date with destiny.

My advisers told me that within a few minutes of making the announcement, I was “trending” in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Delegates, I was so disappointed – at first I thought they said I was “trendy” in Edinburgh and Glasgow!

Well friends. Meet cool Eck fae Buchan.

On 18 September 2014 we will have the opportunity to ensure that decisions about Scotland are taken by the people who care most about Scotland – the people who live and work here.

Few nations and very few generations are fortunate enough to make such an important decision – we are in every sense  the lucky ones.

It’s a vote for the people of Scotland – every citizen aged 16 up – and rightly so.  But do not underestimate the positive lesson to the wider world of a nation deciding its future by debate and democracy.

It was former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, who last October described Scotland’s referendum as a “remarkable and wonderful phenomenon”.

Whether you are Yes, No – or like many at this stage a Dinnae Ken – we can all be proud that our nation is embarked on such an exciting journey in an impeccably democratic way.

The 18th September 2014 is the day when every one of us will be asked to take the future of our country into our hands.

And for years to come people will be asked to say by friends, neighbours, children and grandchildren to say how they voted on that day.

And when that question comes, as come it will, let us make sure that each one of us can proudly say YES.

I was one of those who voted by majority for a new future for Scotland.

Friends, this party has never wavered from our commitment to trust the people to decide the issue of independence.

While the Westminster parties ganged up to block a referendum in the last parliament – when the SNP were a minority – we held fast to Scotland’s democratic rights.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE IS IN OUR DNA.

This moment – Scotland’s moment – was the life-work of dedicated servants of Scotland such as the much-missed Jimmy Halliday.  When Jimmy led our party in the 1950s, a referendum to achieve an independent Scotland was just a dream  – but one he never wavered from.

And the work of Jimmy and countless thousands others has made their dream our  reality – we thank them now, and will thank them best by achieving that Yes vote in the referendum.

And because we have always trusted the people, I believe they will put their trust in the Yes campaign on the 18th of September next year – and vote with those of us who want to build a prosperous economy and a just society.

Next year will be a huge year for Scotland not just for politics but for a range of events which will focus the attention of the planet on our country – the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup, the second Homecoming Year.

We will make sure that each of these events is a success for Scotland, but we also wish to see them as a catalyst for positive change.

Exactly a year ago  I announced the establishment of a £10 million fund to help local communities bring sports facilities across Scotland into the 21st century.

This year we are going further adding another £7 million to this initiative, meaning that over 80 projects across Scotland will be completed in good time for the Commonwealth Games.

So whether its snowsports in Midlothian (for which there is plenty of raw material), Olympic swimming pools in Dundee and Aberdeen, 3G pitches in Dumfries and Galloway, or the outdoor community facility in Aviemore these facilities will provide real benefits.

OUR AIM IS TO INSPIRE SCOTS YOUNG AND OLD TO SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED BY THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES TO BECOME A BETTER NATION.  

Friends – it is said that to govern is to choose but even more fundamental than that is to choose how you are governed.

That choice – THE REAL CHOICE – becomes clearer by the day – the opportunity to use our vast resources and talent to build a better country, or to continue with a Westminster system that simply isn’t working for Scotland – a system which has not worked in the past, is not working now and will not work in the future..

Take the big issues debated in the Scottish Parliament last week – they illustrate exactly why an independent Scotland is the right choice.

It is ten years since the Scottish Parliament first debated the Iraq war – when a catalogue of deception by a Labour Prime Minister – a Labour Prime Minister – led the UK into an illegal conflict that came at enormous human cost.

Almost 5,000 allied soldiers – 179 from the UK – and well over 100,000 Iraqi civilians lost their lives as a result of a foreign policy disaster which made Suez look like a picnic in the sun.

Now when our brave service men and women are sent into danger, we have a duty to give them our full support – and we have an equal duty to discuss the reasons why.  The people who elected us to public office expect nothing less.

However, the No campaign parties in the Scottish Parliament actually tried to gag us from debating Iraq – Labour even claimed it was not a real issue.

Try telling the families who have lost a loved one to the war in Iraq that this is not a ‘real issue’.  Try telling them it should be airbrushed away.

The reality of the situation is that our opponents want to avoid confronting their demons, because they know they backed an illegal war based on a lie – the myth of weapons of mass destruction.

In the Scottish Parliament, there are still 8 of the Tory MSPs and 15 Labour MSPs who voted for the Iraq war – including their leader.

11 of the Scottish Labour MPs who voted for the war are still in the House of Commons – including No campaigner in chief, Alistair Darling.

Another 10 have even been ‘elevated’ – if that is the right word – to the House of Lords.

Labour and the Tories, Tories and Labour – they were wrong together about the Iraq war 10 years ago.

And they should apologise together now.

Friends, the imposition of the Poll Tax by Margaret Thatcher persuaded the majority of people that we needed a parliament with the powers to stop such divisive social experiments being visited upon Scotland.

Instead of being just a good idea, a parliament became necessary if we were to protect Scotland’s social fabric, and ensure that domestic policy reflected the will of the people.

Tony Blair’s legacy is to demonstrate why Scotland needs to go further.  The catastrophe of Iraq shows why our parliament needs to have the powers of independence – so that never again can Scotland be dragged into an illegal war on false pretences.

I’m certain that the lie that led to Iraq would not have been perpetrated by the government of an independent Scotland, of any political persuasion. But we have to be absolutely certain.

Other countries – including Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland – have constitutional guarantees that they will not go to war without a proper process of parliamentary approval, and a similar such undertaking could be written into the constitution of an independent Scotland.

Friends, I believe it should be – indeed it has to be to demonstrate that our new Scotland is something worth voting for.

That is part of the WHY of independence.

The US/UK invasion of Iraq was about non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

But delegates, there are real weapons of mass destruction. Weapons Inspectors  would have had no problem finding them in Scotland.

Just one hundred and fifty miles from here the Trident missile system is based on the Clyde Estuary, just along the road from our most populous city, with an estimated cost for its renewal of up to one hundred billion pounds.

Trident was conceived by the Tories, presided over by Labour just as Polaris before it was conceived by Labour and presided over by the Tories.

The process of its renewal for another 50 years – another half century – is happening under a Tory/Lib Dem coalition supported by Labour.

Trident is Westminster’s ultimate vanity obscenity but now is entirely dependent on next year’s vote.

Because, delegates, it’s now clear that the only way, the only way, we can finally remove these weapons of mass destruction is with a Yes vote for independence.

THAT IS ALSO PART OF THE WHY OF INDEPENDENCE.

Friends, I’m proud to lead a Government that has made the Scottish Parliament work for our people.  That’s why the Scottish Social Attitudes survey showed that 71 per cent of people trust Holyrood to act in Scotland’s best interests – four-times more than trust Westminster.

In the face of appalling financial pressures, we have have chosen a different path from Westminster – a path that reflects Scotland’s social democratic consensus, our shared progressive values, our priorities as a society.

On all the key domestic issues Scotland trumps Westminster.

Down south, the UK Government’s own figures reveal that England will see a 16,000 reduction in the number of police officers.  And to compound this, the starting wage of new officers has been reduced.

South of the Border the thin blue line has just got a lot thinner.

In contrast, the SNP government has delivered and protected 1,000 extra police officers on our streets.  A great achievement – and one that Labour said would take us 13 years!

Just next week, Scotland’s new national police force comes into place, along with Scotland’s new national fire and rescue service.

Friends this Government will always value the work of our emergency services – the people who have been mobilised all of last night helping our fellow citizens.

It is our approach to front line policing which has delivered not only a 37-year low in recorded crime but also a fall in the fear of crime that causes such misery.

That’s why Scotland’s Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill gets cheered to the rafters at the Police Federation conference.  And why his Tory counterpart at Westminster gets booed off the stage.

On health, Scotland continues to protect frontline health spending, despite the Westminster cuts and the huge pressures on our budget.

Prescription charges – the tax on the sick – have been abolished in Scotland, even as they rise to £7.85 in England.

We have record patient satisfaction with our health service, the job our health professionals do, often in difficult circumstances.

We have maintained a genuine National Health Service in Scotland – free at the point of need – even as the NHS is being fragmented and privatised south of the Border, first under Labour and then by the Tories.

Professor Don Berwick is a world-renowned expert on patient safety, David Cameron’s new ‘health tsar’, and a former adviser to President Obama.  This is what he says about the strength of the Scottish system:

“The Scottish Patient Safety Programme marks Scotland as a leader, second to no nation on earth, in its commitment to reducing harm to patients, dramatically and continually.”

That must always be our goal, in every aspect of our health service and national life – ‘second to no nation on earth’.

FOUR YEARS AGO AT OUR CONFERENCE WE ANNOUNCED THAT WE WOULD DRIVE OUT THE PRIVATISATION OF CLEANING SERVICES IN THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE.

Since then healthcare acquired infections have dropped by 80 per cent.

IS THERE ANY MORE VINDICATION NEEDED OF ALEX NEIL’S DETERMINATION TO HAVE A PUBLICLY RUN NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE FREE AT THE POINT OF NEED.

The Scottish Parliament does not control the key economic levers but we do have economic powers. We have used them to deliver the best help for the small business sector – the backbone of our economy – available anywhere in these islands.

We have used them to win more jobs from inward investment compared to any other part of these islands – including London.

And we now have lower unemployment – including youth unemployment – than the UK as a whole.

One year ago youth unemployment was almost 25 per cent as young people bore the brunt of the Labour/Tory recession.

Then we appointed Scotland’s first Minister for Youth Employment, gathered together our stakeholders from the STUC and from business, almost doubled the number of apprenticeships, focussed college courses on full time preparation for employment, introduced the youth guarantee for 16-19 year olds.

What has been the result?

In one year youth unemployment has gone down by one third, from 103,000 to 68,000.  Still far too high, but a dramatic difference to the lives of thousands of youngsters.

ON THIS WEEK’S FIGURES ALL OF THE UK FALL OF 34,000 OVER THE YEAR IN YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT TOOK PLACE IN SCOTLAND.

FRIENDS  WHAT A DEMONSTRATION OF THE WORK OF ANGELA CONSTANCE AS SCOTLAND’S MINISTER FOR YOUTH EMPLOYMENT.

We cannot allow these successes to be blown away in an eternal economic winter of Westminster austerity.

This week’s Westminster Budget is following a familiar pattern, fizz on the day, a hangover the day after.

Even the fizz only lasted until we found they had swiped another £50 million from the Scottish Budget for this coming year, without so much as a by your leave.

But there is much more bad news in this Budget. Analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies shows that from 2016 the Westminster Budget means either £500 tax rises for every family or further cuts in public services which they describe as “eye watering”.

That is the grim future for Scottish families under Westminster rule.

And would there be a different prospectus from Labour? – not a chance.

At Westminster they dance to the Tory tune. In Scotland they are preparing to rip up the social gains of devolution.

This week was one of Labour abstention in votes in Holyrood and Westminster.

They abstained on the war, they abstained on Trident, they abstained on bus passes, they even abstained on workfare at Westminster.

LABOUR – THE GREAT ABSTAINERS ON EVERYTHING – EXCEPT MINIMUM PRICING FOR ALCOHOL WHICH THEY OPPOSED!

The SNP offer a different future.

At Holyrood we will defend the social gains – policies such as free personal care and bus passes for our older folk – who have paid their taxes, powered our economy, raised the children, and deserve something back from society.  That is what it means to be a society.

AND THE ROCKS WILL MELT WITH THE SUN BEFORE WE ALLOW TORY OR LABOUR TO TAKE AWAY THE RIGHT TO FREE EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND.

Delegates, the Yes campaign is predicated on the compelling truth that decisions about Scotland are best made by the people who live and work here. That was once a theory, but is now an indisputable fact.

Since the restoration of our parliament in 1999, we have demonstrated that in law & order, health, education, business support, and the great social services of Scotland – our parliament delivers the policies that are right for Scotland, and reflect the views and votes of the people.

That is the very prize and purpose of self-government.

And if it is true in these devolved areas, it is equally true in all areas of public life.

That is the prize and purpose of an independent Scotland.

With each passing day it becomes clearer that the Westminster system is not fit for any purpose – it is further away than ever from Scotland’s values, and past its time.

The iniquitous Bedroom Tax is the latest example – in a House of Commons debate led by the SNP and Plaid Cymru, over 90 per cent of Scottish MPs voted against it.

We know from Scottish Government research that the extra costs the Bedroom Tax impose on the Scottish economy will outweigh any savings the UK Government makes – even before we factor in the wider social costs and the distress and disruption it will cause.

But still it is imposed on Scotland.  And to add insult to injury, the architect of this  shambles – Iain Duncan Smith – has to be dragged kicking and screaming to deign to defend his policy to a committee of the Scottish Parliament.

Friends this is an iniquitous, unfair, anti-family imposition conceived because of runaway rent levels in the south.

WHY SHOULD PEOPLE WHO WOULD IMPOSE SUCH INIQUITY HAVE ANY POWER AND AUTHORITY OVER THE SCOTTISH PEOPLE.

Friends we have acted to mitigate the worst impacts of welfare changes. Acting with COSLA we have sheltered hundreds of thousands of families from council tax rises, we have established loan funds, increased support for advice centres.

And today I can announce that all SNP-led local authorities will follow the lead of Dundee in halting the threat of evictions from this disgraceful tax for those struggling to pay.

However what Scotland needs is not mitigation but power, not just a defence against Westminster but a removal of Westminster authority over Scotland.

Delegates last year I made a speech pointing out the opportunities to grow the Scottish economy with control over our taxation policy. No-one in this world owes Scotland a living, every policy we articulate needs to focus on our competitiveness as a country.

That is part of the WHY of Independence.

Today I want to illustrate why social change can also release the untapped potential of Scotland and make us not just a prosperous economy but a just society and why these concepts go hand in hand – a prosperous economy and a just society.

Last week the unemployment figures showed Scots unemployment below the UK average. However look behind these figures and see a glaring inequality which holds the nation back.

66% of women are in employment compared to 76% of men.

Now that is not down to lack of talent. Women now make up 55 per cent of entrants into higher education and the number of Modern Apprenticeship starts for women has increased from 27 per cent to 43 per cent.

But in terms of lower numbers of women in employment it really doesn’t have to be like that. Elsewhere in Europe the gender gap is much much less.

If we closed the opportunity gap we would add to our national wealth and to our taxation base by mobilising the skills of women into our workforce.

But there would be another change – a fundamental opportunity to improve the life chances of many of our children.

We have long cherished the ambition to increase pre-school education.  In our first term, we moved it from 412 to 475 free nursery hours per annum, benefiting 100,000 children a year.

And last year I announced a step further – a statutory guarantee of over 600 hours of free nursery education for every 3 and 4 year old, and for every looked after 2 year old in our land.

This is a statement of faith and commitment to the future and it is being carried forward without the fears of lower standards now prevalent in the south of the border.

Flexible in its delivery, using the wisdom of the Early Years Taskforce to help us, but definite in our intent.

For every young mum and dad juggling work and parenthood, this SNP Government is here for you and your family.

This is what we can achieve with a devolved Parliament.  But devolution can only take Scotland so far.  We don’t have the financial freedom to give us the biggest bang for our buck – to invest in areas where Scotland could make huge social and economic strides.

So let us consider what more we could achieve in an independent Scotland.

I HAVE ASKED THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS TO PRODUCE AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACT ON SCOTLAND MOVING TO THE LEVELS OF SUPPORT FOR CHILDCARE COMMONPLACE ACROSS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.

Our ambitions for childcare are the hallmark of our approach to social and economic policy – we promote the measures we do because they advance both our economy and our society.

Some argue there is a contradiction between the two, but the reality is that a progressive social policy boosts the economy, and a dynamic economy enables us to build the fairer society we want.  Each is the handmaiden of the other.

It will not be done in a day, or a year, or even completed in the first term of an independent parliament.

But I believe a transformational shift towards childcare should be one of the first tasks of an independent Scotland.

That too is part of the why of independence.

Friends ours is a noble cause because we are arguing for the rights and responsibilities, not of ourselves, but of our country.

We are arguing for something bigger than any individual, any party, any campaign –the benefits of which will endure for generations to come.

The biggest advantage of the Yes campaign is that we put no limits on the abilities of this nation to build prosperity and wellbeing for all the people.

The biggest problem for the No campaign is their fear and scorn of a Scotland aspiring to equality of status among the nations of the world.

Our opponents in the No campaign will say and do anything to keep Scotland where they think it should be.

In terms of GDP per head, right now an independent Scotland would be the 8th wealthiest country in the league table of the world’s most developed nations.

If the No campaign believe Scotland doesn’t have what it takes to be an independent country, they must think that only the 7 countries above Scotland can be independent – and the UK wouldn’t be one of them, because it trails at number 17 overtaken this year once again by Iceland!

Delegates, our opponents often say we cannot afford to be independent.  I say Scotland can’t afford NOT to be independent.

To listen to the No campaign, they’d have you believe that a new generation of Trident nuclear weapons on the Clyde was a fantastic asset – and having generations of oil and gas revenues to come was a big problem!

That is the looking glass fantasy they want Scotland to believe.

But the people aren’t daft – they know that Scottiish energy resources are the asset, Trident is the problem, and Westminster the liability.

Combining the natural and human resources of Scotland is the way to fairness and prosperity.

Our call for the 18th of September next year is one to optimism and progress.

There was a referendum once when Scotland was cheated out of our right to self-government.

Listen to just this one example – among the tirade of scare stories – used to frighten people into voting No to self-government in 1979.  It was a Daily Express editorial 10 days before the referendum:

“How much of Scotland’s economy will be left intact if a Scottish Assembly gets the go-ahead on March 1?  Will our coal mines go gaily on?  Will Ravenscraig or Linwood thrive?  Will Bathgate flourish and Dounreay prosper?”

No assembly came in 1979 – and every plant and facility listed by the Express closed under Westminster-rule – all gone, every one.

We will not be conned again.

We achieved a Parliament in 1997 – overcoming a welter of scaremongering in a referendum.  And we have never looked back.  The latest survey shows that only 6% of Scots want to turn the clock back to having no parliament.

It will be exactly the same with independence.

All of the things they say about independence now were said about devolution then.  And we know they were wrong, because as a nation we have proved them wrong together these past 14 years.

We can now look back and say that thanks to having a parliament, Scotland has a National Health Service worthy of the name, free education for young Scots, and personal care for our older citizens.

None of these things exist south of the Border, and none would exist in Scotland today without self-government.

I believe in ten years time we will look back and say that thanks to independence we will have a thriving economy, a welfare state worthy of the name, the best childcare system anywhere in these islands, and the obscenity of Trident nuclear weapons on the Clyde will be but a distant memory.

Friends, the referendum for an independent Scotland is a precious opportunity – one given to no previous generation.  We do not know if we will pass this way again.

I believe Scotland will vote Yes next September – and give a renewed purpose to this old nation.

A ‘new sang’ to sound a better Scotland.

Below is the text of the speech made by the leader of the SNP, Alex Salmond, to the 2005 SNP Conference.

Delegates, There are many reasons why I am going to miss having Winnie as our Party President but one of them is her introductions to my speeches at Conference. I never know quite what she is going to say. No, I never know at all what she is going to say. However, I am delighted that she is in the Chair today because it gives me the opportunity to pay tribute to the outstanding Scottish politician of her generation.

Let us consider just two of the phrases which Winnie has carved into the lexicon of Scottish politics “Stop the world Scotland wants to get on” and “this Parliament adjourned in 1707 is hereby reconvened.” Winnie you changed Scotland’s world in 1967. And without you, there never would have been any Parliament of any kind to be reconvened.

At this Conference, we pay you tribute and you have the thanks not just of every single delegate but of ever single person who cares about Scotland. And what does Winnie intend to do in her retirement? Well I happen to know that her first plans for her well earned relaxation – are a few days campaigning in Cathcart and Livingston. And I will be proud and happy to be campaigning along with her as I know every single one of us in this hall will do.

Delegates the cat is out of the bag. I have been reading “A Spin Doctors Diary” by Lance Price. It lifts the veil on behind the scenes at Downing Street. It should have been called “Confessions of a Spin Doctor” – just like a blue movie. Some of it is absurd – sex on the sofa at No 10. Come on.

However, apparently even the air turns blue in Downing Street. Our great Prime Minister re-acts to the prospect of defeat in Wales by swearing at the Welsh nation – just think what he might be saying about us come next Friday. It gives a blow-by-blow account of the backbiting, the tantrums and the squabbles at the heart of the Blair nexus.

He is depicted not just at swearing at Wales but about Scotland’s late Cardinal, Thomas Winning – someone whose boots Mr Blair was not fit to lace, not to mention insulting Donald Dewar. The Prime Minister emerges from the account as a posturing popinjay – totally unfit for office.

But let us take just one matter arising, which illustrates how dirty the game is played in Blair’s Britain. Lord Birt is now a personal special adviser to the Prime Minister – responsible would you believe for “Blue Sky Thinking.” These diaries reveal that when Director General of the BBC he plotted with Downing Street to stop the Scottish 6, to stop Scotland getting its own full-scale news bulletin.

We know this to be true since Lord Birt was arrogant enough to put in his own memoirs. Therefore, the Director General of the BBC – that independent impartial national broadcaster – conspired with the Prime Minister’s office in an essentially political campaign. After which he gets ennobled and is now a special adviser to Mr Blair.

Lord Birt should be pleased about his peerage. In Blair’s Britain, many other people have had to pay big money. Every single donor who has given Labour more than a million pounds has been given a knighthood or a peerage. 80p out of every pound donated by individuals to Labour comes from people who have been honoured.

And this is the Government of the regular sort of guy who wanted to clean up politics?

Now I know what Lord Birt’s successor thought about the story of the Scottish 6 because I asked him. Gregg Dyke told me he was “shocked” by this revelation. He went on to assure me that political manipulation of the public broadcaster would not happen in his term of office. I believe that to be true. That is why Greg Dyke is now an ex-Director General. The message is clear.

In Blair’s Britain if you defend your journalists right to tell the truth about the war in Iraq then, you end up having to resign but if behave like Lord Birt then you get a peerage and a title as special adviser.

There is something rotten in the state of Blair’s Britain. And can I just say how glad I am that this party will not be nominating any Scottish patriot to set on the ermine benches between Lord Archer and Lord Watson.

However, the Lance Price book gives an insight into an even more important matter. Price claims that Blair “relished” sending forces into war. Or at least he did before No 10 censors forced him to amend that passage. We are eight years and five military actions into Blair’s premiership. The present action in Iraq has resulted in carnage – 95 British soldiers, 1907 American soldiers, tens of thousands of Iraqis and no end in sight.

It is a war built on lies, which has fanned the flames of international terrorism. The consequences for this country have been murder and atrocity on the streets of London, essential liberties under serious threat and community relations under real pressure. Every member of the Government, Blair , Brown and the rest, every Member of Parliament who voted us into this sequence of disasters should hang their heads in shame.

Bush and Blair should now be on their knees to the United Nations asking for a security force to be drawn from Islamic countries to replace American and British forces. What we need – and we need it right now – is a strategy and a timetable for withdrawal not more years of Blair’s blood price.

Of course, the tales about Blair’s sofa style of Government are not the only revelations of late. Let’s talk about Scotland’s oil. We have released secret papers from the 1970s demonstrating the level of deceit from Tory and Labour administrations about the true nature of Scotland’s oil wealth. Gavin McCrone was the Scottish Office economic adviser. He wrote a paper on North Sea oil and the difference it could make to Scottish economy. No wonder they kept in secret.

Labour say they did not lie. Really! Let’s make a few comparisons between what McCrone said to Labour and what Labour told Scotland. McCrone said that an independent Scotland would have title to 99 per cent of the oil revenues and that the only thing wrong with SNP estimates is that they were too low.

Labour told Scots our figures were wildly exaggerated. McCrone compared Scotland’s economic prospects to Switzerland. Labour to Bangladesh. McCrone said that oil had overturned the economic arguments against Scottish nationalism. Labour said Scotland couldn’t manage. McCrone praised how Norway had dealt with the international companies and said that Britain had failed.

Labour said that Scotland would be too small to deal with big oil. McCrone said that Scotland would be a welcome and influential member of the European Community. Labour said that we would be out in the cold.

Every bottom of every political barrel was scraped to keep London’s grip on Scotland’s oil. And they are still at it today. This week Gordon Brown said that the price of oil was volatile – that you cannot rely on a single resource. The sub text is that it’s not really worth all that much. That is the myth. What is the reality?

This Chancellor is getting £1 billion a month from Scotland’s wealth. Right now, it is the black black oil, which is filling Brown’s black hole. Gordon says that we cannot depend on one natural asset. Strange that his former adviser Ed Balls MP says that bulging North Sea revenues are “the main good news on the economic front ,” and remember when Balls speaks its Brown speaks its Balls.

After 25 years of wasted opportunity, we don’t need lectures from any London Chancellor on how to handle our natural resources. We only have to look across the North Sea to see how to husband a capital asset. The Norwegian fund for future generations has now topped £100 billion and the interest and earnings from it are as great as this year’s Norwegian oil revenues. Norway celebrating 100 years of independence is also celebrating 25 years of oil.

People ask, how long will oil last? For Scotland, the answer is between 30 and 50 years.

For Norway, the answer is for all time. Why? Because the economic impact of their fund will last for all time.

In contrast, thus far Scotland’s oil has disappeared down the gullet of the London Treasury. Therefore, what is the importance of these 30-year revelations for today and tomorrow? Firstly for the present. If Tory and Labour politicians were prepared to lie and cheat Scotland in the 1970s why should anyone believe a word they have to say about Scotland in 2005 or in 2007? Then for the future.

There is as much oil and gas in the waters around Scotland as has been exploited thus far. – Another 30 plus billion barrels of oil, another £200 billion of revenues. We have a second chance to transform our economic prospects and we must seize it with both hands. Of course, I can understand London politicians who deprecate the ability of Scots to fully govern themselves.

It is a tactic employed by Westminster towards many countries for generations, for centuries. However, how do we excuse the politicians from Scotland to whom it seems second nature to run down the ability and potential of their own country? The truth is out there because we have published it. Now we must never let them forget it – not now, not ever.

It is still Scotland’s oil.

As McCrone predicted and as Stewart Hosie has demonstrated this week the extent of oil and gas revenues would propel the Scottish economy into chronic surplus. We are launching an economic offensive. Our opponents are discredited – their past has caught up with them. The present demonstrates a strong financial platform for independence.

But what really matters is the future. What matters is moving the Scottish economy onto a strong growth plane. The failure to grow the economy over these last 25 wasted British years. It is why we are loosing population. It is why we have not just blighted streets but blighted lives in Scotland.

Off our East coast is independent Norway with oil growing at 3 per cent a year. Off our West coast is independent Ireland growing at 5 per cent a year. If we had grown at the rate of independent Norway over the last 20 years we would be £5,000 a head richer. If we had matched the growth rate of independent Ireland we would be £20,000 a head richer.

What we need is the economic strategy to unlock that potential, to be among the most competitive countries in the world, to match the growth of the other small independent European nations. If we were to do that, it would mean an independence bonus of an additional 19 billion in the economy by 2015, or £4,000 per Scot.

When Nicola and I stood for election a year ago, we put forward a proposal to reduce business rates to below the levels of England. I know it was influential. How do we know?

Well one of Mr McConnell’s henchmen left his comments on our manifesto on a Scottish Parliament photocopier. “Should we pre-empt this?” the note said. Of course when he finally got round to doing something Mr McConnell’s main concern was to brief that this initiative was nothing whatsoever to do with his Liberal Deputy who was told nothing about it. Now Mr Stephen says it was all down to him.

That’s their story and who needs Ballymory when we have McConnell and Stephen – the Scottish Executive? Actually it was nothing to do with either of them. Lacking ideas of their own the were just pinching SNP policy.

Listen guys you don’t have to talk to each other. I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want to talk you either. Just keep reading Nicola’s lips to get your ideas.

In the General Election we published a plan to Let Scotland Flourish -how to give our economy a competitive edge in the modern world. It has seven key policies to lift the Scottish growth rate. We intend to develop that further over the next year and make it a centre piece of the campaign for 2007.

One of our proposals is to give Scotland an edge not just in business rates but in corporate tax – to reverse the long process of loosing headquarters and decision making centres from Scotland.

More than 20 years ago, I was a young economist working for the Royal Bank of Scotland. There were takeover bids for the Bank from Standard Charter and Hong Kong Shanghai. They were kicked into touch by the Monopolies Commission as being against the Scottish public interest.

Last week I attended the opening of the new world headquarters of the Royal Bank now the 5th largest Bank on face of the planet. It will provide opportunities in Scotland for thousands of young people to pursue careers to the very top of their chosen profession, and yet if it had not been for that decision of 20 year ago, there would have been nothing to celebrate. Gogerburn would be but an empty field.

In the next few weeks, bids will emerge for Scottish Power our largest industrial company headquartered in Scotland. If it disappears into the maw of a company, which already owns Power Gen south of the border, then its headquarters functions will also disappear.

No one argues that it is possible in the modern world to protect every business from takeover. However, no normal country allows its key strategic companies to disappear without considering the public and competition interest. The Germans do not allow it and neither do the French. For Scotland, this is our biggest industrial company. Energy is our strategic resource.

The Scottish Executive sit on their hands – helpless, hopeless and hapless – with as much control over things that really matter to Scotland as King Canute had over the tide. Scotland has now just a handful of world reach companies headquartered in Scotland.

We pledge at this conference to fight them until we have the economic edge of independence which will bring many more to join them.

In the general election, we gained our first seats from the Labour Party at a Westminster election since 1974. This year we have started to win by elections at local level across Scotland. Our aim for 2007 is to win seats across Scotland from Labour, the Liberals and the Tories. Some people say it can’t be done. I say yes it can.

We have to gain 20 seats first passed the post and then others from the list. What we do will be determined by our own efforts. Mind you we will be greatly helped by our political opponents. Labour once had the longest suicide note in political history. Michael Howard is engaged in the longest resignation note in political history.

Charles Kennedy wants to turn his party into a Tory Party although the delegates – in best tradition of the Liberals – are not sure. I have the solution for both parties. It is not too late for another entry into the Tory leadership contest. Kennedy is the remedy for the Tories.

And we don’t even need a crystal ball to say what a Liberal / Tory coalition look like. Just ask the thousands of Council workers in Aberdeen who were sent letters telling them that their wages were to be cut by a Liberal/Tory Council.

Delegates to win in 2007 we have to have confidence in three things – ourselves, our programme and our country. Firstly, in ourselves. This year we have rediscovered the will to win. Stewart Hosie in Dundee, Angus Brendan in the Western Isles, local government seats the length and breadth of the country. Remember there are more people in Scotland who would vote for this Party than any other. All we have to do is to demonstrate that we are worthy of that support.

Secondly, confidence in our programme. We are a social democratic party. That means we match and marry economic efficiency with a social programme, which shapes the public purpose. Our economy can be the new Celtic tiger not the Caledonian pussycat. Our public services can be made to work efficiently and our ideas to do that are flowing through this Conference agenda.

Our belief in social and international justice can find expression through our political institutions. We judge the temper of our people correctly – Scotland wants a party which uses both the head and the heart.

Thirdly and most importantly importantly confidence in our country. Unionism depends on the notion that somehow our nation of Scotland is incapable of making the big decisions. – war and peace, taxation, international aid – issues like Iraq, tax credits, the betrayals since the G8.

What exactly is it about Westminster’s handling of these issues that we are meant to admire? The truth is that Scotland is good enough, big enough, and talented enough to be independent.

We are not going to allow our potential as a people to be measured by the mediocrity of the Scottish Executive. We are not going to allow our nation to be traduced and misrepresented by the mendacity of Westminster. And we are not going to allow our country to be a dumping ground for nuclear waste of the next generation of nuclear missiles.

Our political strategy is clear – clear as crystal. We intend to win the elections of 2007. We intend to demonstrate to Scotland that we have the competence and credibility to run Scotland and run it well. We intend to offer the people of this country – within the first term of office – the opportunity to move forward to independence.

We need the freedom for our country to match the generous heart of our people – the generous heart we saw after the Tsunami. We need the power to capture the opportunities of renewable energy power and the hydrogen economy. We need the ambition not just to march to make poverty history but to have a Government, which lives that dream.

In the summer I paraded with the Sir William Wallace Free Colliers to the Wallacetown monument -they have marched every year since 1861. Back then when the miners were looking for a hero to symbolise their struggle for freedom from the serfdom of the coal owners they chose Wallace and they chose wisely. 700 years ago Scotland’s greatest hero gave his life for that freedom.

We are not required to make that sacrifice – only invest our votes, our hopes and our time. But we are not an ordinary political party nor is our mission the ordinary stuff of politics. Our immediate aim is to rescue the politics of this country from the mediocrity of an Executive with – as someone said recently – the attention span of a goldfish.

But our objective is to break the grip of the London parties over Scotland – not just the political grip but their unionist mindset of defeatism , can’t do and second best. Forget the old excuses about lack of confidence. We aspire to lead into a new age of responsibility for Scotland.

Scotland needs Independence, self determination and self respect. And right now Scotland needs the SNP.

Convener – fellow Scots.

This is a speech I never expected to be making.

I never thought to have the privilege of being, once again, the leader of this movement.

But let’s get one thing absolutely clear

I didn’t accept this challenge in the hope things might work out.

Nor did I listen to those of you who were kind enough to ask me to return just for the dubious pleasure of exchanging pleasantries with Mr McConnell.

I sought the leadership of this party because I share your frustration and the anger of every thinking Scot.

We campaigned, shoulder to shoulder, for Home Rule because we believe in Scotland.

We celebrated devolution because it promised to usher in a new era of politics

But instead, we have seen our Parliament devalued by a government, which doesn’t understand the very concept of public service. Which dulls the expectations of our nation and which seeks to bore the electorate into submission.

So to anyone who still doubts why I sought leadership once again let me make it plain.

I’m back to turf out the over promoted Labour machine politicians who demean the Scottish Parliament.

I’m back to rid Scotland of small-minded, managerial administration and deliver a vision capable of touching the soul of Scotland.

And I’m back to give the message direct to the Labour Party in Scotland –

Your time in government is coming to an end.

Conference

What I intend to do today is to lay out exactly what we can achieve as a party and as a movement for Scotland over the next few years – and how we intend to go about it. .

But let me first pay tribute to John Swinney. I happen to think that John was badly treated by the press and poorly served by some in this party.

He is a better man by far than all of his critics combined.

Nicola and I – all of us – owe John a democratic debt for the one member, one vote election, which galvanised the SNP over the summer.

All of us here thank you, John, for everything you have done and in particular for that crucial and essential reform.

And I would like to thank the party for the huge mandate, that Nicola and I received.

We intend to harness that mandate to make the changes required to allow the SNP to renew our challenge for political leadership in Scotland.

But let me make one thing clear.

Nicola and I campaigned as a team, we will lead as a team and we will win as a team.

And that team approach extends throughout the party. Every single one of us shares responsibility for the party’s shortcomings and our successes.

We are all now collectively responsible for whether the SNP – indeed whether Scotland – succeeds or fails.

We have a substantial task in hand – I know that – you know that and I will need the help of the whole party – all of you – to succeed.

But I have to say I comfort myself by looking at the state of our opponents.

Charles Kennedy started the week by lambasting the government over health cuts in Scotland – good thing too –

The only problem is that he was attacking the Scottish government – his own government – that is the one his party props up

Charles wants to bring down a Lab/Lib government and replace it with a Lab/Lib government!

Strikes me that if he wants rid of Malcolm Chisholm or any other hopeless Labour minister then all he has to do is to tell his troops to vote them out of office.

Nicola said on Wednesday that she will force the matter to the vote in the Scots Parliament so they will soon have their chance.

Of course, if they are not prepared to do that – if they vote to keep their ministerial Mondeos rather than to save the health service – then people at the coming election can conclude that every liberal vote is not a vote for Charlie’s angels but for Labour’s little helpers.

Then there is Michael Howard. The only thing that has upset him recently is not being invited to the republican convention in New York.

Just think of it the leader of the Tory party is the one man on the planet – who is too right wing to be allowed to meet George W Bush!

Those who the gods seek to destroy, they first render ridiculous.

No wonder David McLetchie is a part time leader.

Best to keep his hand in at the law for after the next Scottish elections.

However, for the art of looking ridiculous none of them hold a candle to Mr McConnell

Forget the pin stripe kilt – did I actually say that?!

How can anyone forget the pin stripe kilt?

Never mind snubbing the D Day veterans – or his cultural minister – that’s right Frank McAveety is his minister of culture – nipping out for pie and beans in the canteen.

Let’s even excuse him telling the Scottish Opera staff they were sacked in a newspaper leak

I want to focus on the one incident that proves Mr McConnell is unfit for office – the day he announce to the parliament during question time that he was waffling and sat down.

Now I have seen many ministers in many parliaments and I’ve seen many ministers waffling but I have never heard of any one – far less a First Minister – actually declare himself to be a waffler.

Usually you leave that to the opposition

It is often said that Mr McConnell is no Donald Dewar – Donald Dewar?

Jack McConnell is no Henry McLeish.

Now delegates I want to say something about the position in Iraq.

There will be no jokes from me about the Prime Minister. I believe that Tony Blair’s conduct puts him beyond the normal banter of politics.

Like everyone else at this conference and throughout the entire country, I hope and pray for the safe return of Kenneth Bigley but like his anguished family, we fear the worst.

However, I believe that this Prime Minister now operates outside the currency of debate, beyond the pale of decency.

All Prime Ministers tell fibs – Wilson dissembled about Polaris on the Clyde, Thatcher massaged the unemployment figures every single month. But no leader – no Prime Minister – has lied about the reasons for going to war.

I don’t just challenge his policies – I challenge his morality.

18 months ago George Bush declared that the war in Iraq was over. On Sunday, Blair told us that the conflict was ongoing.

18 months ago Blair told us that we had gone to war to uphold the authority of the United Nations Last week Kofi Annan told us that the conflict was illegal.

18 months ago Blair told us that the Iraqi survey group would find the weapons of mass destruction. Now the group’s final report concludes that there were none.

Now this is not a question of this Prime Minister – any Prime Minister – making a judgement call and just being wrong

It is not a matter, as Blair would have us believe, of someone acting in good faith and making an honest mistake.

This is a man who buried the intelligence that was inconvenient,

Manipulated the information to suit his purpose

And entered into a secret pact with the American president to go to war come what may

In addition, as we now know from this last weekend, he even concealed the warnings from the very heart of his own government that the conflict after the war would be nasty, brutish and long.

Blair once said that he would be prepared to pay the blood price for standing shoulder to shoulder with the United States of America

But he hasn’t paid the blood price

14,000 Iraqis, more than 1000 Americans, 66 British soldiers, 69 from other countries, hostages – these are the people who have paid and are still paying Blair’s blood price

Nor has he stood shoulder to shoulder.

Most of the time he has been on his knees.

He has cosied up to the American president, thumbs in the gunbelt down at the ranch –

The sheriff and his sidekick – the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

But George W. Bush is not America no more than Tony Blair speaks for Scotland.

And what loyalty does the Prime Minister show to those he sends into his war.

The Black Watch are currently on their second tour of duty.

As a regiment, it may be their last ever tour of duty.

The Scottish regiments the finest infantry soldiers in the world. They fight Blair’s wars and he stabs them in the back while they stand in the line of fire.

And so let me say this to conference

This Prime Minister needs to be humbled in an election and next year we will take our case to the country.

But this Prime Minister deserves to be impeached and we with others will present the case that he should be required to answer.

What is impeachment – well let us describe it as a weapon of mass democracy- the final democratic deterrent against the abuse and misuse of executive power.

This Prime Minister should be drummed from office and we will use each and every opportunity to remove him.

It is a long way from war in Iraq to the Holyrood project.

Iraq is about people dying while Holyrood is just about money – a building project gone badly wrong.

However, there is one key connection.

At the heart of the war in Iraq is the misleading of the Westminster parliament. And thus the people

The real issue in the Holyrood scandal is the misleading of the Scots Parliament and thus the people.

When the Parliament was told in June 1999 that the price tag was £109 million they voted for it by a wafer thin majority of just three votes

The real price at that stage was over £200 million and the project totally out of control or as Fraser said it was “not in a viable and healthy condition“.

There were three separate Holyrood plots

Plot one was to conceal the costs to get labour through the 1999 election.

Plot two was to conceal the costs to get the project through the parliamentary vote.

Plot three was to conceal the costs to hand it over and then blame the hapless MSPs

According to Lord Fraser, the key decisions were made under Westminster control by civil servants who are still under Westminster control – which makes Mr McConnell‘s claims that he is about to reform them absurd even by his standards.

Civil servants may share the blame but it is ministers, politicians who are accountable.

And the line of accountability should be thus.

Let those who voted for this nonsense like the labour and liberal parties take the responsibility.

And those of us who voted against it learn the lessons by making it impossible to ever again mislead our parliament with impunity.

As for the building itself then it is time to move on.

Whatever its origins there is now a building which feels like a parliament

It is now up to all MSPs to act like parliamentarians

Five years ago the MSPs were cheered into their offices in the mound. Now they must begin the long march back into public esteem.

There are basically two explanations as to why devolution has been one big let down.

Either there is something wrong with Scotland or there is something wrong with the leadership that Scotland has been getting.

To put it simply either Scotland’s rubbish or labour’s rubbish.

I prefer to think that it is New Labour who are the problem and new leadership is the answer.

And so if we are to replace the Labour Party as the government of Scotland in 2007 then we have to present principle where there is none and vision where now there is only vacuum.

Nicola and I have asked shadow cabinet members to develop our policy programmes for the election next year.

We have to make progress next year to win in 2007, and we have to win in 2007 to move forward to Independence.

To make progress we will demonstrate that only the SNP can be trusted with Scottish interests

It is not only that SNP MPs work harder although we do.

When the Commons Library compile the annual stats for which MP has asked the most questions or made the most speeches the only thing that changes is which of my colleagues comes out first and which of the Labour Party comes out bottom.

But it is more than work rate. It is that we can always be trusted to represent and defend Scottish interests.

Foundation hospitals south of the border were bad for Scotland but labour MPs voted them through

Tuition fees south of the border were bad for Scotland but labour MPs voted them through

Strip stamps were bad for a great Scottish industry but labour MPs voted them through.

And the contrast when the SNP is moving forward is clear for all to see.

Martin Sixsmith blew the whistle at the centre of the labour spin machine but in 1999, he was working for GEC.

He has now set out the inside story of how it was fear of the SNP, which saved the Govan shipyard from closure in 1999.

And therefore delegates if we can save Govan in 1999 then SNP advance can save the fishing industry and the regiments in 2005.

We can make Westminster dance to a Scottish tune.

But progress next year is to a greater purpose.

When Mr McConnell became first minister of Scotland he said he wanted to do “less better”

Some have criticised Blair for just wanting power – McConnell just wants office and position in a nation without power – it’s even less forgivable.

What a rallying call that is to the nation. “Let’s do less better” – well he has managed to fulfil the first part of that boast

He certainly does less.

When the SNP brought to the parliament a debate the impending war in Iraq our opponents used their time on the same day to talk about dog fouling!

When the SNP first forced the issue on Iraq the first minister chose not attend. He sent someone else to tell the people of Scotland that Iraq was a reserved matter.

When we argue that, we have to save our fishing communities from disaster in the European constitution we are told to that that is a reserved matter.

And when we join with Scots across the country in our outrage that children have been and can again be imprisoned, at Dungavel we are told again that it is a reserved matter.

Well First Minister, Dungavel is about values, fishing is about communities and war is about conscience.

And values, communities and conscience can never be reserved matters.

They are Scottish matters and we demand a parliament with the power to do something about them.

We intend to lift the ambition of Scots. – to set our sights on the Scottish horizon.

We are building a programme to march that ambition

We will develop an economic policy, which lifts the Scottish growth rate.

We will restore the people’s faith in Scotland’s public services

We will introduce the fresh air of democracy into Scottish institutions.

And we shall restore this ancient land to its rightful place as a free and equal member of the community of nations.

Now Mr McConnell says that growth is his top priority.

In fact, he has as much control over the Scottish economic growth as Heather has over the weather.

To make Scotland work we need a competitive economic environment, we need an infrastructure fit for the 21st century not for the middle of the last century and we need capital markets which allow Scots with ideas to bring their products to the international marketplace

And the stakes are high.

If the Scottish economy had hit the UK rate of growth over the last 25 five years we would all be £2000 better off.

If we had hit the European level, each of us would be £5000 better off

And if we had grown at the level of independent Ireland, we would all be £20,000 a year better off.

One key to growth is infrastructure.

We will establish a Scottish trust for public investment to launch a new age of improvement in Scotland.

It will provide the financial mechanism to transform Scotland’s infrastructure into one fit for the challenges of today’s economy and tomorrow’s society.

Provost William Smith used his opening speech to the conference to lobby us on dualling the A9. He is right. This is the capital of the highlands. It has two major road connections to the south and the east. One is a dirt track and the other is a death-trap and both are totally unacceptable.

The trunk roads in the south west and north east of Scotland are a disgrace while central Scotland still awaits the linking of the motorway network.,

We don’t even have rail links to our major airports or a bullet train between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In 1905 it took 1 hour to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow. A century later we have improved by 12 minutes.

The journey time should take 20 minutes.

A few days back I received a letter from a liberal MSP asking how it could be possible to fund a bullet train between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Then her own party transport spokesman said he wanted one between Edinburgh and London.

The Scottish Liberals really should try and keep up!

Our country, this nation, found the right financial mechanisms to fund the westward expansion of America.

Is it really said that we can’t do the same to transform Scotland?

If McConnell and Wallace had been in charge of Glasgow in the 19th century they would still be waiting for running water in Govan.

Of course, infrastructure is more than roads, railways and broadband. It is also providing the platform to exploit this country’s natural resources.

Right now Scottish oil revenues are running at £8,000 million a year.

That’s right £1,500 this year for every man women and child in the country and its all disappearing into the maw of the treasury, into Gordon Brown’s back pocket.

And the oil and gas will flow for another 50 years.

But delegates we have won the energy lottery again- this time in renewables. Scotland has 25 per cent of Europe’s potential wind power, 25 per cent of its tidal power and 10 per cent of its wave capacity.

The Pentland Firth has been described as the Saudi Arabia of tidal power.

And this is offshore potential.

If a community owns an onshore wind farm or there is a perceived community benefit fine. But onshore wind will never meet the energy requirements of Scotland

Just one offshore project could generate 5 times the electricity of all the onshore wind projects put together.

So what is stopping this new Klondike – or as one company put it the “biggest single threat to viability” and the billions of investment and thousands of jobs that will go with it.

What is stopping it is a proposal from Offgem, a government agency, after a period of grace, to charge generators in the north of Scotland £20 a kilowatt to connect to the grid while they propose to subsidise projects in London by £9 a kilowatt.

That is a proposal from the national grid and Offgem. If you want to build a windfarm offshore in the Moray Firth they will charge you. If you want to build it on top of Big Ben, they will pay you.

They should remember that offshore Scotland there is lots of wind. Around Big Ben there is only hot air.

All of which proves there are three great lies in life. Darling I’ll respect you in the morning – the cheques in the post and I’m from the London treasury and I’m here to help Scotland. . The challenge for his party is clear. London government has filched thirty years of oil revenues.

We shall not let them sabotage our future in renewables.

An SNP Scotland will become the renewable capital of Europe.

We want to see the nation prosper but the Scotland we seek is one, which defends the public interest, the common weal, the sense of community, which protects the vulnerable.

To restore faith in Scotland’s public services we need to revitalise social democracy in Scotland.

We pay social democratic levels of taxation, we spend social democratic levels of funding but we do not have social democratic levels of service.

Take the crisis in the health service. The health service should not be run for the convenience of the health boards, or the consultants or the government.

It is not the Health Boards’ health service or Malcolm Chisholm’s health service it is the people’s health service

In order for Scotland’s health service to function, it requires a national strategy but it also needs public confidence and support at local level.

That is why we will make health boards elected to prevent them being the lickspittles of central government

But we will go further. People despair that the current consultation process is a sham.

We say that when a closure is threatened then petitioners should have the ability to call a time out.-

To stop the process while it is examined properly to make protest count.

We have to engage real people in a real democracy

Real democracy doesn’t begin and end with a parliament. It begins and ends with the people.

In the summer Nicola and I caused a stir when we suggested allowing the public the opportunity to nominate one subject for debate in the parliament each week.

Vested interests were outraged. How could we possibly trespass on the preserve of parliamentarians and their right to choose to debate dog fouling and hedge rows.

Well it ain’t the politician’s parliament. It is the people’s parliament and it is time – well past time – to let the people in.

So we now intend to go further. Not only should there be direct nomination of subjects for debate but the petitions committee will be charged to bring forward, where appropriate, legislative proposals from the best supported petition each year which then can be put to the MSPs for debate and decision.

A new economic policy for Scotland. Revitalised social services a real citizen’s democracy.

These are the building blocks for inspiration and success

But they are set in a context – and that context is this ancient land as a full and equal member of the community of nations.

Devolution is yesterday’s news. It has not responded to today’s reality never mind the challenges of tomorrow.

Independence is about equality.

The same rights – the same responsibilities as other nations.

The right to choose between war and peace.

The right to choose between stagnation and economic progress.

The right to choose to live in a society which protects those who stumble along life’s path.

The responsibility to ensure that the distinctive contribution of Scotland is not silenced or ignored in the councils of Europe and the world.

And our responsibility. To defend and have faith in the idea of Scotland.

In ancient times the city of Sparta had no walls – it didn’t need any The people were the walls of Sparta – its defenders its strength and its faith.

At this particular moment, you – all of you – the people are the walls of Scotland – its defenders, its strength and its faith.

Faith that we can build a better future.

Faith that we can transform this nation.

Faith that our ambitions of today will become tomorrow‘s reality.

Equality, responsibility, Independence.