This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2012/oct/20/alex-salmond-speech-snp-conference-live
The article has changed 14 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 12 | Version 13 |
|---|---|
| Alex Salmond's speech at SNP conference: Politics live blog | Alex Salmond's speech at SNP conference: Politics live blog |
| (2 days later) | |
| 9.30am: It's the day of the leader's speech. I'm in the press room in the concert hall in Perth where Alex Salmond's, Scotland's first minister, will be addressing the SNP this afternoon. It should be the highlight of the four-day conference, but Salmond will be hard pressed to produce anything as dramatic as yesterday's debate on Nato membership, which culminated in a narrow but significant victory for Salmond and the SNP leadership, who have persuaded the party to drop its historic opposition to an independent Scotland belonging to Nato. | |
| I will round up more reaction to yesterday's vote shortly. | |
| This morning there are two developments worth noting. | |
| • Salmond has said that independence would allow the Scots to create "a more prosperous and a more just society". Normally at party conferences extracts from the leader's speech are released in advance. The SNP have done this, but they've only given us two sentences. | |
| Our cause is not and never has been just about a constitutional objective. It is about using the powers of an independent Scotland to create a more prosperous economy and a more just society. | |
| • Better Together, the pro union campaign, has released a poll suggesting that only 16% of Scots "strongly" favour independence. Responding to the poll, the SNP said that it also showed that more than a quarter of Labour voters and nearly a third of Lib Dem voters support an independent Scotland and that support for a yes vote had risen by 3% in under two weeks. | |
| Here's the agenda for the day. /> />10am: Conference opens. There are debates on welfare, including a call for people to receive "full pension and benefit payments" when Scotland becomes independent, on the NHS and on development trusts. | |
| 10.30am: Speech by Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish culture secretary. | |
| 11.25am: The president's prize, presented by Ian Hudghton MEP | |
| 11.35am: Fraternal address from Plaid Cymru. | |
| 11.45am: Speech by Blair Jenkins, chief executive of Yes Scotland. | |
| 2pm: Further debates. Resolutions being discussed this afternoon include international development, inequality, pensions, workfare and housing. | |
| 3pm: Alex Salmond, Scotland's first minister, speaks. | |
| I'll post a summary at lunchtime and another after Salmond has fininshed. | |
| If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow. | |
| 10.21am: Here's a round-up of some of the reaction to yesterday's Nato vote at the conference. | |
| • The Herald in its leader says that the Nato vote was a victory for the SNP leadership but that the nation must now judge how credible the SNP's defence policy is. | |
| Then there is the question of how feasible the party's new position on Nato actually is. Many delegates yesterday voiced their worries over this point. Nato membership would make it harder for an independent Scotland to rid itself of nuclear weapons, warned MSP Jamie Hepburn. | |
| German newspaper reports last month suggested that Nato had forced Germany to drop its aspiration to bring about the withdrawal of US nuclear weapons from its soil. Would any negotiation on the point even be possible? The assumption that it would, some opponents believe, is simply "policy by assertion". The pro-Union Better Together campaign, which was surely disappointed by yesterday's vote, will seek to exploit such doubts. | |
| • The Scotsman in its leader says the vote represented a major shift in policy. | |
| Opponents, doubtless, will point to the narrowness of the majority and claim nationalists are divided, or to the caveats in the wording eventually approved to contend that the party's new stance is riddled with hypocrisy. But there is little doubt that yesterday's vote represented a major shift in policy. Moreover, it was achieved in an old-fashioned political way. | |
| • Robbie Dinwoodie in the Herald says those opposed to the SNP changing its policy on Nato have indicated that they will accept the result of yesterday's vote. | |
| [Christina McKelvie MSP] later said the vote would be respected and that no further action was expected from opponents to Nato membership. She added: "Democracy was the winner today. Now we can put this behind us and focus on winning Yes votes." | |
| • Alan Cochrane in the Daily Telegraph says the SNP's defence policy is now marked by "hopeless incongruity". | |
| They've said that as Scotland is currently, through the United Kingdom, a member of Nato it should, as an independent country, continue to be a member. However, in seeking to be so, its negotiators – step forward the aforesaid Alex Salmond – would tell the alliance's bigwigs that they'd only continue as a member "subject to an agreement that Scotland will not host nuclear weapons". | |
| It's called "conditionality" but it's actually a virtual negation of what Nato is all about; it is a nuclear alliance and its members accept as part of joining that they enjoy the shelter of what's always been called the "nuclear umbrella". | |
| • Andrew Nicoll in the Scottish Sun says yesterday's vote makes the SNP look "a lot more credible". | |
| After all, yesterday's conference was packed with diplomatic observers from embassies around the world, watching to see where Scotland is heading. | |
| They will be reporting back today having seen a mature party of government in action, a party prepared to lead Scotland to its place on the world stage. | |
| • Terry Kelly, a Labour councillor, says on his blog that the Nato vote marks a defeat for SNP traditionalists. | |
| The vote was very close, close enough in fact to stir talk of mutiny and schisms in most other parties but alas this is the SNP and the truth is that the true nationalists, the genuine independence fighters, have been dying the death of a thousand cuts for 10/15 years now. Today was their last hurrah, they will hang about for some time to come and we will hear the sporadic death rattle but nothing more. | |
| Many old timers in the hall and sprinkled around the country will have had tears in their eyes as they stood looking at the triumphant platform and they could not miss surely that the platform was smirking at them. | |
| 10.44am: Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish culture secretary, is addressing the conference now. The party have released some extracts from her speech. She is saying the SNP believe in subsidising the arts because "self-expression of the nation needs self-expression of its people". | |
| Scotland's culture is our soul - in its traditions, in its innovation, ideas, debates, disputes, its many truths and its many questions. In its democratic intellect it does not just define us, it is constantly challenging and shaping and reshaping our perspective and ideas. | |
| Our artists need freedom, respect and support to do so unconditionally because it is in that atmosphere we will see our culture flourish still further. | |
| Conference in Scotland, we are seeing world class art, writing and performance being produced. Time and time again I am told from abroad we really value culture for what it is. | |
| I have worked hard to protect our cultural institutions and front line grants despite cuts that are too deep and too quick from Westminster. Where the Arts Council in England has seen cuts of 30% Scotland we have sought to protect culture. | |
| We believe in public subsidy of art and artists because we believe that self-expression of the nation needs self-expression of its peoples. The experience of one of us can speak to all, and to an audience across the globe. | |
| 11.08am: The conference has passed a motion on welfare describing the UK government's plan to cut housing benefit for the under-25s as "a shameful attack on young people" and welcoming the Scottish government's guarantee that "people will continue to receive the full pension and benefit payments that they are entitled to" under independence. | |
| 11.15am: Here's another blog about the SNP Nato vote yesterday that's worth reading. | |
| • Alistair Cassidy on his Both Sides the Tweed blog says that the Nato debate should make people proud to belong to the SNP. | |
| Essentially today the SNP moved from being anti-NATO to being NATO-sceptic. Because of a recognition of the importance of continuity and of mutual co-operation between nations and, in particular the nations of northern Europe NATO has been given a chance, a chance to prove itself as an organisation that can work in the interests of Scotland and of all its members. | |
| Be under no illusion that today was a significant day in the life of this party. As Kenny MacAskill put it we have moved from being a party of protest to a party of Government and today's debate exemplified that. Whatever the result had been the real winner today was party democracy and I believe that can be a real example to other political parties, both in Scotland and elsewhere and a sign to the people of Scotland of the kind of government that they should expect post-Independence. | |
| 11.22am: The conference has just passed a motion on the NHS saying the SNP "rejects all attempts to privatise any services provided by the NHS and congratulates the Scottish government on its commitment to keeping the Scottish NHS in the public sector, in contrast to the NHS in England." | |
| 11.33am: Alyn Smith MEP has just opened a debate on the "alternative economic model for Scotland that development trusts provide". He said that if people were unhappy about Starbucks not paying much tax in the UK, they should buy coffee from a local shop instead. Business "rooted in the community" understood the importance of paying tax, he said. | |
| 12.09pm: Jill Evans MEP, the president of Plaid Cymru, has just finished addressing the conference. She was giving "fraternal greetings" on behalf of the Welsh nationalists. An independent Scotland would have not truer friend than Wales, she said. | |
| She also pointed out that in Plaid the president, chair, chief executive and leader are all women. I don't think she was trying to have a go at the SNP, but yesterday there were complaints about how few women were speaking in the Nato debate. "The membership of the SNP is overwhelmingly male", James Mitchell, Lynn Bennie and Rob Johns concluded in their study of the SNP published earlier this year. | |
INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND. | |
programme. | |
time mothers and their children ... | |
SCOTLAND WILL NOT PAY | |
dodged a fare. | |
citizens. It prevents the need for many older people to be admitted to geriatric wards, and instead helps support them to live where they want to be, in their own homes and communities. | |
law", as the Labour Party once said. | |
guaranteed with independence. | |
Conference, according to the Labour Party, Scotland has become a "something for nothing" country. | |
the fear of not being able to fund their care in infirmity? | |
prescribed medicines before this Government restored a Health Service free at the point of need ... | |
friends, neighbours, the workers at your side, your parents, grandparents or children. | |
importance of society. | |
SOME CALL IT UNIVERSALITY, AND SAY ITS TIME HAS PASSED | |
that affect them and their families. | |
doubt, once again, the majority of our fellow citizens are for change. | |
And as for the No campaign, their objective is somewhat different. | |
an independent Scotland would be run by the people of Scotland, for the people of Scotland. | |
what we can't do. | |
that can't run a railway, never mind run a country. | |
financial knees, unites with the Tories, the party of omnishambles, to tell Scotland that we are uniquely incapable as a nation. | |
they will ever trust Westminster. | |
social welfare or European representation people want these decisions to be controlled in Scotland. | |
Scottish Parliament. | |
years that we are a party that is more than capable of being Scotland's devolved government. | |
have conducted ourselves, that we are a party that is capable of being Scotland's first independent government. | |
just said to him. | |
and he said "sure – and I'm the Czar of all the Russias! Get off this train." | |
| 12.41pm: The cross-party campaign for a yes vote in the independence referendum is called Yes Scotland and it is being run by Blair Jenkins, a former head of news at STV and BBC Scotland who is not a member of the SNP, or any other party. He has just addressed the conference. It was an interesting speech, which included a very powerful argument for independence, although one that also undermined his separate argument about the yes campaign being beyond party politics. Here are the main points. | 12.41pm: The cross-party campaign for a yes vote in the independence referendum is called Yes Scotland and it is being run by Blair Jenkins, a former head of news at STV and BBC Scotland who is not a member of the SNP, or any other party. He has just addressed the conference. It was an interesting speech, which included a very powerful argument for independence, although one that also undermined his separate argument about the yes campaign being beyond party politics. Here are the main points. |
| • Jenkins said independence campaigners should invite people to consider whether they would vote for union with England if Scotland were already independent. | • Jenkins said independence campaigners should invite people to consider whether they would vote for union with England if Scotland were already independent. |
| I think if you stand back and look at it, a campaign being run now to persuade Scotland to join the union in my view would be an impossible campaign to run. Just imagine some of the leading propositions, the case that would be put to the Scottish people: your main parliament will move hundreds of miles away, and your MPs will be in a tiny minority; you will get a government you didn't vote for; all your oil and gas revenues will be handed over to the London Treasury. The biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in Western Europe will be build on the River Clyde, 30 miles from your largest city. You will be joining a country where the health and education services are rapidly being privatised. | I think if you stand back and look at it, a campaign being run now to persuade Scotland to join the union in my view would be an impossible campaign to run. Just imagine some of the leading propositions, the case that would be put to the Scottish people: your main parliament will move hundreds of miles away, and your MPs will be in a tiny minority; you will get a government you didn't vote for; all your oil and gas revenues will be handed over to the London Treasury. The biggest nuclear weapons arsenal in Western Europe will be build on the River Clyde, 30 miles from your largest city. You will be joining a country where the health and education services are rapidly being privatised. |
| • He claimed that Yes Scotland represented "a new kind of politics" because it was non-partisan and non-ideological. | • He claimed that Yes Scotland represented "a new kind of politics" because it was non-partisan and non-ideological. |
| As far as Yes Scotland is concerned, all we ask of anyone is that you support the core principle, the core democratic principle, that the best people to make decisions about the future of Scotland and what is right for Scotland are the who of Scotland themselves … That is the only price of admission if you like … This is a cause that transcends political parties and, indeed, is a new kind of politics. | As far as Yes Scotland is concerned, all we ask of anyone is that you support the core principle, the core democratic principle, that the best people to make decisions about the future of Scotland and what is right for Scotland are the who of Scotland themselves … That is the only price of admission if you like … This is a cause that transcends political parties and, indeed, is a new kind of politics. |
| Theoretically, then, Yes Scotland is open not just to the SNP, but to people who want an independent Scotland to be an nuclear-armed, low-tax, minimum-regulation state - ie, like Texas, with mountains. But Jenkins undermined this point with his argument about imagining people being asked to vote for union with England (see above) and his claim that independence would allow Scotland to become more equal (see below). | Theoretically, then, Yes Scotland is open not just to the SNP, but to people who want an independent Scotland to be an nuclear-armed, low-tax, minimum-regulation state - ie, like Texas, with mountains. But Jenkins undermined this point with his argument about imagining people being asked to vote for union with England (see above) and his claim that independence would allow Scotland to become more equal (see below). |
| • He said independence would allow Scotland to create a more equal society. | • He said independence would allow Scotland to create a more equal society. |
We know that under successive Labour and Conservatives government, the UK has become one of the most unfair and unequal societies in the western world. That didn't happen as an act of God, it was an act of policy … | We know that under successive Labour and Conservatives government, the UK has become one of the most unfair and unequal societies in the western world. That didn't happen as an act of God, it was an act of policy … |
| I believe 2014 will be the year of yes and we will get the majority we are looking for. We are coming to a clear fork in the road, a choice of direction. Let's not be part of an increasingly unequal society, let's continue on the journey we have started. | I believe 2014 will be the year of yes and we will get the majority we are looking for. We are coming to a clear fork in the road, a choice of direction. Let's not be part of an increasingly unequal society, let's continue on the journey we have started. |
| The vision of an independent Scotland that many of us have is of a country where all of us look out for one another, and where our sense of duty and responsibility to other people don't begin and end at our own front door. | The vision of an independent Scotland that many of us have is of a country where all of us look out for one another, and where our sense of duty and responsibility to other people don't begin and end at our own front door. |
| He also said that Scotland had a "strong collective ethos" and that "we do look out for one another and we do value one another". | He also said that Scotland had a "strong collective ethos" and that "we do look out for one another and we do value one another". |
| • He said Yes Scotland was attracting support from people from most parties. The Green would play "a substantial role" in the campaign, he said. The new group, Labour for Independence, was "a growing and significant group" within the party. And some notable figures in the Liberal Democrat party, like Dame Judy Steel, were now in favour of independence. | • He said Yes Scotland was attracting support from people from most parties. The Green would play "a substantial role" in the campaign, he said. The new group, Labour for Independence, was "a growing and significant group" within the party. And some notable figures in the Liberal Democrat party, like Dame Judy Steel, were now in favour of independence. |
| • He said all parties in Scotland should set out their vision for the future of the country, whether or not they supported independence. | • He said all parties in Scotland should set out their vision for the future of the country, whether or not they supported independence. |
| • He said the no campaign had a "profoundly pessimistic" view of Scotland's future. | • He said the no campaign had a "profoundly pessimistic" view of Scotland's future. |
| The underlying rationale - the no narrative if you like - seems to be that the rest of the world, other countries in the world, and international institutions would adopt immediately an irrational and hostile view to an independent Scotland … I do not believe such a view has any rational or substantial basis at all. | The underlying rationale - the no narrative if you like - seems to be that the rest of the world, other countries in the world, and international institutions would adopt immediately an irrational and hostile view to an independent Scotland … I do not believe such a view has any rational or substantial basis at all. |
• He said the no campaign would have difficulty attracting the support of 16 and 17-year-olds because they were opposed to under-18s getting the vote. | • He said the no campaign would have difficulty attracting the support of 16 and 17-year-olds because they were opposed to under-18s getting the vote. |
You can imagine who the conversation would go: "Hello, we're the no campaign. Remember us, we are the people who tried to stop you having a say in the future of your country." | You can imagine who the conversation would go: "Hello, we're the no campaign. Remember us, we are the people who tried to stop you having a say in the future of your country." |
| • He said that Yes Scotland's advisory board would ensure that the campaign represented all elements of Scottish life. The board is chaired by Dennis Canavan, the former Labour MP. • He said it was too early in the campaign to worry about the opinion polls. | • He said that Yes Scotland's advisory board would ensure that the campaign represented all elements of Scottish life. The board is chaired by Dennis Canavan, the former Labour MP. • He said it was too early in the campaign to worry about the opinion polls. |
| • He said that if every person in Scotland in favour of independence persuaded just one new person to vote yes, Yes Scotland would win. | • He said that if every person in Scotland in favour of independence persuaded just one new person to vote yes, Yes Scotland would win. |
| 12.45pm: It's not all good tempered at the SNP conference. My colleague Severin Carrell has sent me this. | |
| Scottish ministers confronted an angry and at times abusive crowd of anti-wind farm campaigners outside Scottish National party conference in Perth, with little love lost by either side. | |
| The crowd of perhaps 150 to 200 anti-wind farm activists – many dressed in tweeds, Barbour-style coats and Wellington boots - booed and hissed the Scottish health secretary Alex Neil as he walked past, with some in the crowd throwing v-signs and shouting "no more turbines". | |
| Stewart Stephenson, the former Scottish environment minister, and a champion of renewable technology, was booed too as he walked alongside the demonstration. He responded by pursing his lips and blowing – in imitation of the wind. | |
| With a mocked-up coffin and protestors dressed as undertakers, one banner hung over the barrier featured Alex Salmond raising two fingers in a victory salute, with the slogan: "Two fingers to Aberdeenshire's landscape from the great windbag". | |
| Salmond's proposals for a significant expansion of onshore windfarms – he wants the equivalent of 100% of Scotland's domestic electricity needs to be met from renewable sources – have met intense, vociferous criticism in the Scottish shires, and from some land conservation groups. One placard said: "Highland landscapes are unique: don't sacrifice them." | |
| And here's a picture from Twitter. | |
| 1.20pm: Here's a lunchtime summary. | |
| • Blair Jenkins, the head of the cross-party Yes Scotland campaign, has told SNP delegates to ignore the polls and to have faith that they can win the independence referendum. "It is far too early in the campaign to be looking at opinion polls," he said, in the wake of evidence showing that support for independence has fallen this year. "I believe we have the evidence. I believe we have the arguments. I believe we have the vision and the momentum." Jenkins also said that, if you framed the argument in terms of a question about whether an independent Scotland would vote now for a union with England (ie, if you turned the question inside out), it was impossible to imagine Scots voting for the union. See 12.41pm for a full summary. | |
| 1.59pm: I'm still rounding up blog reaction to the Nato vote, and I've just found this: Burdz Eye View on her blog explaining why Alyn Smith's speech in the debate was a bit of a disaster. /> | |
| As for zeroes? Step forward Alyn Smith MEP. Apparently, he was a last minute addition to the speaker platform in the great NATO debate. That will be decision he might well live to regret. He achieved the remarkable feat of being heckled and boo-ed during his contribution, something I've never heard before at an SNP conference. Why? Because the gist of what he had to say was that important decisions on weighty matters like defence needed to be taken by "professionals" like him and that effectively, we delegates were too wee and too stoopit to know what we were doing. He also managed to give the meeja their quote of the day: apparently, the policy we had on defence, which had served us very well as a party since 2002 was "hopelessly naive and idealistic and showed that Scotland wasn't ready for the big league" . Not a good move for someone seeking re-selection as one of the party's European candidates in the near future. | |
| 2.05pm: And Burdz Eye View has also got the full text of the speech from Jill Evans, the Plaid Cymru president. | |
| 2.27pm: This is not strictly relevant to today's conference proceedings, but Grainne Maguire's article for the Independent on what Scotland would be like without the BBC is a good read. | |
| Yes Scotland, after centuries of neglect, cultural condescension, not to mention The Highland clearances, you could finally sail your ship alone, but it would also mean missing out on Dr Who, so are you sure about this? As a child growing up in Ireland in the 1980s, I advise caution. | |
| Self determination is lovely but having to rely on a small, poorly-funded national broadcaster for your entertainment needs is cultural suicide. I speak from experience; Radio Telifis Eireann, the Irish National Television is, like most modest sized national broadcasters, unrelentingly, grindingly, auntie getting drunk and singing at a family wedding-awful. In my opinion it is every tedious, pointless, vaguely racist local newspaper put in motion. Scotland, imagine turning on your TV and discovering it was stuck on "and now news from your area" for all eternity and ask yourself if you really liked Braveheart that much? | |
| 2.34pm: Delegates have passed a resolution on international aid suggesting that independence would help Scotland meet the UN target for 0.7% of national wealth to go on aid spending. "This 42-year-old target has been met by other small European nations such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Luxembourg, but not by the UK," it says. | |
| 2.37pm: And delegates have also passed a resolution condemning the UK for having the seventh greatest income inequality in the OECD and saying that independence would allow the government to create a more equal society. | |
| 2.42pm: Mark McDonald MSP has just finished doing the financial appeal. At the heart of it was a joke about trying to explain to his young child where babies came from. From mummy's tummy. And who put it there? Daddy. How? By magic. But how? The punchline involved the mummy saying, after the daddy has put the baby there, "that was magic". | |
| It worked better as he told it in the hall ... | |
| 2.55pm: Alex Salmond should be starting his speech within the next 10 minutes. | |
| 3.07pm: Salmond is about to start. They are playing the stirring music. | |
| 3.08pm: Nicola Sturgeon is introducing Alex Salmond. | |
| Salmond has been looking confident this week, she says. "Isn't it nice to finally see him come out of his shell," she jokes. (Salmond is not known for being self-effacing.) | |
| In a few weeks time Salmond will become the longest-serving first minister. | |
| He is also Scotland's best ever first minister, she says. | |
| 3.11pm: Alex Salmond is speaking now. | |
| He begins with a joke about George Osborne. He was on a train yesterday, he says. The audience start to laugh. "In a first class carriage with a second class ticket." The audience laugh even louder. | |
| Anyway one of these plebs came up to me impudently doing his job and I />just said to him. | |
| "Don't you know who I am my man? I'm the Chancellor of the Exchequer" />and he said "sure – and I'm the Czar of all the Russias! Get off this train." | |
| Salmond says there is a serious point here. | |
| Why on earth do we allow this bunch of incompetent Lord Snooties to be in positions of authority over our country? | |
| 3.14pm: And he has a dig at Labour too. | |
| And why does the Labour Party believe that they can survive getting into bed with them in the No campaign? | |
| 3.14pm: Salmond says any of the "giants" of SNP history would have been proud of the party listening to the Nato debate yesterday. | |
| Conference, there are good reasons why the people of Scotland have placed their trust in the SNP over two Scottish elections. | |
| And they shone out like a beacon from this conference hall yesterday afternoon. | |
| DIFFERENT VIEWS - HONESTLY HELD - OPENLY DEBATED - DEMOCRATICALLY AGREED. | |
| When we started this Conference we had already demonstrated over five />years that we are a party that is more than capable of being />Scotland's devolved government. | |
| Today, the people of Scotland know, because of the manner in which we />have conducted ourselves, that we are a party that is capable of being />Scotland's first independent government. | |
| (I'm using the text I've been sent by the SNP. The capitals are theirs, not mine.) | |
| 3.16pm: Salmond says the Edinburgh agreement on the independence referendum means that it is now "game on" for Scotland. | |
| All 16 and 17-year-olds will be allowed to vote in the referendum, he says. Not just the so-called "attainers" (those who are on the electoral register because they are coming up to the age of 18.) | |
| Conference we intend to introduce a Paving Bill over the next few weeks which SHALL make it possible for ALL 16-17 year olds to vote if that is what Scotland's Parliament so determines. | |
| 3.18pm: Salmond says there is support for change in Scotland. | |
| Now we know there are many of our fellow citizens who remain to be convinced about the merits of independence. | |
| But we also know that there IS a majority for change in this country. | |
| We know that at heart people trust their own Parliament far more than />they will ever trust Westminster. | |
| We know that asked about individual powers whether it be on defence, social welfare or European representation people want these decisions to be controlled in Scotland. | |
| And we know that people want economic policy to be directed by the Scottish Parliament. | |
| 3.23pm: Salmond says that he was proud to stand on a cross-party platform in 1997. | |
| People from across Scotland who wanted a stronger say on the decisions that affect them and their families. | |
| And in the years that have followed, that appetite has grown. | |
| They have seen what our Parliament has achieved and they like it. | |
| Conference, many want independence, many want more powers. But have no doubt, once again, the majority of our fellow citizens are for change. | |
| In 2014, the people of Scotland will be heard again. | |
| And he attacks the no campaign. | |
And as for the No campaign, their objective is somewhat different. | |
| It seems they are against independence for one simple reason - because an independent Scotland would be run by the people of Scotland, for the people of Scotland. | |
| Instead of telling people in Scotland what they can do. They tell us what we can't do. | |
| The irony is that most of them are thirled to a Westminster Parliament that can't run a railway, never mind run a country. | |
| Just think of it. Labour, the party which brought the country to its financial knees, unites with the Tories, the party of omnishambles, to tell Scotland that we are uniquely incapable as a nation. | |
| Their message is clear enough. "Abandon hope all ye who vote No" | |
| FRIENDS, WHAT "A PARCEL OF ROGUES IN A NATION". | |
| WESTMINSTER IS BEYOND SALVATION. | |
| BUT OUR SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC SCOTLAND CAN STILL BE WON. | |
| 3.25pm: Now is is attacking Labour, and particularly the call from Johann Lamont, Labour's leader in Scotland, for an end to Scotland's "something for nothing" culture. | |
Conference, according to the Labour Party, Scotland has become a "something for nothing" country. | |
| So exactly who are these people who want something for nothing? | |
| Is it the pensioner who wants the right to travel and the freedom from the fear of not being able to fund their care in infirmity? | |
| Is it the family on £16,000 a year who had to choose between prescribed medicines before this Government restored a Health Service free at the point of need ... | |
| Those who want something for nothing according to Labour are your friends, neighbours, the workers at your side, your parents, grandparents or children. | |
| Labour does not understand the Scots, he says. | |
| They don't want something for nothing. | |
| They just want the right to live in a country which understands the importance of society. | |
| And he attacks the idea, implicit in Johann Lamont's recent speech, that universal entitlements should be abandoned. | |
SOME CALL IT UNIVERSALITY, AND SAY ITS TIME HAS PASSED | |
| I CALL IT HUMAN DECENCY AND ITS TIME IS NOW. | |
| 3.28pm: Salmond says the SNP's efficiency savings have saved 3% of budgets a year. | |
| We also know that free personal care is not some give away to the older generation. It removes fear and provides dignity. It boosts the independence and wellbeing of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens. It prevents the need for many older people to be admitted to geriatric wards, and instead helps support them to live where they want to be, in their own homes and communities. | |
| And, conference, it was at the "vanguard of turning our values into law", as the Labour Party once said. | |
| We believe that the Parliament's policies on personal care, transport and education promote solidarity, remove stigma, prevent the vulnerable from being isolated, and do not discriminate against hard working families who have scrimped and saved. | |
| They give everyone a stake in the country because they reflect the common weal of Scotland. | |
| Friends, what was won could now be lost. | |
| Have no doubt, what was gained with devolution can only now be guaranteed with independence. | |
| That final quote encapsulates the key argument of the speech. | |
| 3.30pm: And now he turns to the Tories, highlighting the comment from Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, about only 12% of Scots making a net contribution to the economy. | |
| For no sooner has Labour moved on to Tory ground than the other Tories became even more extreme. | |
| They declared that only 12 per cent of Scottish households were contributors to the country, only 12 per cent were responsible for "generating Scotland's wealth". | |
| Even Mitt Romney only dismissed 47 per cent of the US population. That's not good enough for the Tory leader in Scotland. | |
| 3.32pm: Salmond is still atttacking Davidson. | |
| Let us forget for a moment that she got her calculations wrong, that it would be just about the same figure for the UK and how she forgot about corporate tax and VAT and public sector workers and all the rest of it. | |
| Let us consider the mentality which seeks to depict just about every pensioner in the country as "unproductive". Every pensioner unproductive? | |
| I know lots of pensioners who have never sworn at a police officer or dodged a fare. | |
| DELEGATES, I DO NOT KNOW A SINGLE SCOTTISH PENSIONER WHO HAS BEEN LESS PRODUCTIVE THAN DAVID CAMERON OR GEORGE OSBORNE. | |
| And the Tories wonder why they are at 13 cent in the polls. | |
| Believe me they are lucky to be at 13 per cent. | |
| 3.33pm: And now Salmond makes a point about Labour and the Tories. | |
| And so Labour and Tory - the two great pillars of the Union – united in a death grip programme to a sweep away concessionary travel, free prescriptions and education. | |
| 3.35pm: Salmond is still attacking Labour. | |
| NOW LABOUR'S LEADERS THINK WE HAVE WEALTH ENOUGH FOR WESTMINSTER'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION | |
| BUT THEY TELL US WE ARE TOO POOR FOR SCOTLAND'S FREE PERSONAL CARE | |
| IF THAT IS THE PRICE OF LONDON GOVERNMENT - IT IS A PRICE THAT SCOTLAND WILL NOT PAY | |
| 3.35pm: Salmond says he wants Scotland to be "the best place in the world for a child to grow up". | |
| And he has an announcement to make. | |
| I am proud to say that the Family Nurse Partnership, put in place by this Government, has already made a valuable difference to the lives of families in the four health boards that currently use this programme. | |
| Since 2010 the pilot initiative has supported over 450 young first time mothers and their children ... | |
| I'm therefore delighted to announce that with £11 million over the next two years, we will ensure the establishment of Family Nurse Partnerships across Scotland by the end of 2015 - benefitting thousands of young families – giving some of Scotland's most vulnerable children the best possible start in life. | |
| 3.38pm: Salmond says an independent Scotland would have almost £1bn a year extra to spend because of lower defence spending. | |
| During the debate yesterday some delegates suggested our projected Budget for conventional defence be lower. I understand that but we must keep the nation secure and we shall. | |
| What they may have missed is that our plans are almost £1,000 million a year lower than what we pay to Westminster at the moment - £230 million of that will be saved by ending our payments for the Trident progamme. | |
| Let us call it the independence dividend. | |
| Over the next year we will spell out what that independence dividend can do for services and for jobs, and we should start by committing to give every child an equal chance in an independent Scotland. | |
| A few weeks ago I visited Dr Bells in Leith – a family centre offering support and advice, and friendship and hope, to young families in their area. | |
| LET US RESOLVE TO GROW SUCH CENTRES IN EVERY COMMUNITY IN AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND. | |
| 3.41pm: Salmond says he has asked George Osborne to change course on the economy. | |
| WESTMINSTER CAN SIMPLY SAY NO - AS GEORGE OSBORNE DID YET AGAIN THIS WEEK. | |
| AND CONFERENCE, IT IS NOT A NO TO ME AS FIRST MINISTER | |
| IT IS A NO TO THOUSANDS OF OUR FELLOW SCOTS | |
| 3.42pm: Salmond has an investment anouncement. | |
| TODAY I CAN ANNOUNCE YET ANOTHER VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN SCOTLAND AND OUR PEOPLE. | |
| The Hong Kong telecommunications company THREE have today announced said they will be creating almost 400 new jobs in Glasgow. | |
| This will almost double the number of workers at the site and I welcome that many of these jobs will be for young people. | |
| 3.43pm: Salmond is returning to independence. | |
| It is time for Scotland to move up a gear. | |
| Delegates, today as we look around our country can anyone truly say - Scotland is as good as it can be? | |
| That we are fair enough, that we are equal enough? | |
| That we are making the most of the many talents we have been given? | |
| The UK government is incapable of putting Scotland first, he says. | |
| We face a Westminster government that is hell bent on pulling our society apart at the seams. | |
| Austerity a one-way street, with tax cuts for the rich and benefit cuts for the poor. | |
| Billions to be spent on new nuclear weapons while families struggle to heat their homes. | |
| What brave new world is this? | |
| Friends, now is the time for Scotland to choose a different future. | |
| 3.45pm: Salmond is onto his peroration. | |
| SO LET US BE CLEAR | |
| WESTMINSTER WOULD PUT THIS FIRST CLASS NATION IN THE SECOND CLASS CARRIAGES. | |
| NO MORE SECOND BEST FOR SCOTLAND | |
| Friends, it is time for a fresh start for our nation. When opportunity will be seized, not lost ... | |
| Friends, Scotland's time is coming. | |
| Our home rule journey, begun by so few so many years past, is coming to its conclusion. | |
| Together, we say Yes. TO SCOTLAND AND TO INDEPENDENCE | |
| 3.47pm: Instant verdict: Salmond is not a great platform orator, but content counts for much more than style and this was a speech with a clear, simple and superficially attractive message: if you want to say no to nuclear weapons, and yes to universal benefits and lots of family centres, vote for independence. Salmond managed to incorporate a joke about George Osborne into his overall argument masterfully, his soundbite on universality (see 3.25pm) was particularly powerful and he successfully presented independence as an extension of devolution (which is now popular and universally accepted) rather than as a radical departure from it. | |
Have no doubt, what was gained with devolution can only now be guaranteed with independence. | |
| Johann Lamont would, no doubt, say that Salmond was again promising Scotland something for nothing and I look forward to seeing what the FactCheck crew have to say about Salmond's £1bn "independence dividend". But, overall, this was a speech that sounded progressive and reasonable. Voters may like it. | |
| 4.05pm: Johann Lamont, the leader of the Scottish Labour party, has issued a response to Salmond's speech. Here it is in full. | |
| Alex Salmond says 2014 is when the nonsense ends. Well he could end the nonsense now. | |
| The nonsense of claiming Scotland would at a stroke be better off with independence when he knows it would push costs up. | |
| The nonsense of saying Scotland would be independent when he plans for the central bank of a foreign country to control our currency. | |
| The nonsense of not being able to say who our lender of last resort would be. | |
| He could end the nonsense of saying Scotland is the country where everything can be free when he has cut local services because he won't fund the council tax freeze. | |
| He could end the shame of trumpeting free care for the elderly when the reality is many of our old people miss out on the care they need, while others get just fifteen minutes care per visit because he wont fund it. | |
| This is a man who believes in cheap slogans but won't fund the policy behind them. | |
| Alex Salmond won't end the nonsense because he can't be straight with the Scottish people. | |
| Instead he wants to spend the next two years trying to sell a bill of goods to the Scottish people he knows we don't want, while he ignores the real concerns of Scots - jobs, a decent education, proper health care and dignity and serenity in old age. | |
| 4.20pm: Here's an afternoon summary. | |
| • Salmond has urged the Scots to vote for independence to safeguard the gains, such as free social care, achieved under devolution. He said Labour and the Tories were "united in a death grip programme to a sweep away concessionary travel, free prescriptions and education". | |
| • He has announced that the Scottish government will legislate to ensure that all 16 and 17-year-olds can vote in the independence referendum. • He has announced that the family nurse partnership, a programme to support mothers with young children, will be rolled out throughout Scotland. This will cost £11m. | |
| • He has said that an independent Scotland would have an "independence dividend" worth almost £1bn a year because defence spending would be lower. That could be spend on family centres, he said. | |
| • Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader, has accused Salmond of misleading the Scots with "cheap slogans". (See 4.05pm.) | |
| That's all from me, I'm afraid. I've got to catch a flight to London. | |
| Thanks for the comments. |