The address comes two days after the party backed his motion for the SNP to win a majority next May as a mandate to seek consent from the Prime MInister to hold a new independence referendum.
“Independence offers Scotland a fresh start. This is a moment of decision,” he told delegates.
“We all face a choice. Decline, decay and despair with Westminster government.
“Or hope, optimism and ambition with Scottish self-government. This is the moment for us to realise the true potential we have as a nation. Now is the time for Scotland to become independent.”
He added: “On Saturday, we showed how serious we are about achieving that goal by agreeing our strategy to get us there,” he said.
“We did so through reasoned, respectful and spirited discussion.
“In a world where democracy is under threat, it is safe to say it is alive and well – and thriving – in the SNP.
Elections to Holyrood take place in May next year(Image: Agency)
Speaking at the final annual conference ahead of next year’s election, the First Minister drew comparisons between the current political climate and the Thatcher era of the 1980s and early 1990s, saying dislike for those policies eventually led to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament.
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Addressing members on Monday afternoon, the First Minister said: “On Westminster’s watch, the basic essentials of life – energy, food and more – are becoming more and more expensive.
“In many ways, the deep-seated problems facing the UK right now are a culmination of decades of failed Thatcherite economics.
“An entire system, accepted by the Westminster parties, of being intensely relaxed about some people becoming filthy rich while everyone else struggles to get by.
“It was in part Scottish revulsion at the policies of Margaret Thatcher that catapulted Scotland towards the creation of a Scottish Parliament, and the rebirth of self-government.
“We became, in Westminster language, a “devolved nation”.
To loud applause from his supporters, he added: “Today I believe it will be revulsion at Westminster’s race to the right that will change Scotland’s status again.
“From a so-called devolved nation, to what we can be: A modern, outward-looking, inclusive, compassionate country.
“Not a devolved nation. But the world’s newest nation state. That, conference, is the fresh start Scotland needs.”
Lamenting the “race to the right” at Westminster, the First Minister reached out to everyone living in Scotland.
“Wherever you are from, whatever your faith, whatever the colour of your skin, let me make this clear: we are all citizens, we all have a part to play and a contribution to make,” he said.
“And conference, yes, I am proud to say that refugees are welcome here.
“The race to the right at Westminster is one reason why independence is so urgent and necessary.”
The SNP leader also used his keynote speech to his party conference to attack UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his “vacuous Labour government”.
The First MInister atacked Keir Starmer’s Labour government(Image: )
He said “Keir Starmer promised to be a left-wing Labour leader, and then he became a right-wing Prime Minister.
“He stole Jeremy Corbyn’s clothes and now he’s dressing up as Nigel Farage.”
He claimed the PM “hasn’t even tried to implement the progressive policies that people backed him for”.
And that, my friends, is the simple and stark choice facing Scotland.
We choose not Westminster government
We choose self-government
We choose not isolationism
We choose internationalism
Never an island of strangers
Always a continent of friends.
Mr Swinney went on to add that the rise of Reform had prompted a “race to the right” in UK politics.
“Fear of Farage is driving Westminster to more and more extreme views,” the Scottish First Minister said.
The UK Government’s pledge to bring down energy bills will also come under fire, with the First Minister to dub Great British Energy “the Great British rip-off”.
By the end of the conference, Mr Swinney will have spoken on all three days, including securing the support of members for his independence plans, which set the bar at a majority of MSPs next year to secure a mandate to seek another referendum.
He was forced to clear up comments by his depute leader Keith Brown, who told journalists just minutes after the vote the First Minister was “staking his premiership on winning independence”.
But speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, the First Minister said: “It would be kind of funny if I won the election then resigned.
“To make progress on the independence question, we’ve got to get 65 seats at the Scottish Parliament, that’s what I’m working to achieve.
“I’m here for the long haul to lead the SNP and deliver for the people of Scotland.”
Ahead of the address, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the people of Scotland “won’t be fooled”.
“Our NHS is on its knees, with record waiting lists and thousands forced to turn to the private sector, violence in schools is rising, and the housing emergency is worsening by the day,” she said.
“The SNP has had almost two decades to get it right, but things are only getting worse.
“Instead of focusing on the priorities of the people of Scotland, they’ll spend their conference talking to themselves about division.
“We can’t risk a third decade of this tired and incompetent government.
“Next year’s election is about removing them from power and only Scottish Labour can end the SNP’s mismanagement and take Scotland in a new direction.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton accused the First Minister of “playing to the nationalist gallery to distract from his party’s atrocious record”.
“He has been at that heart of that government for almost all of the 18 years the SNP has been in power, but still he prioritises an obsession with independence over Scots’ real priorities,” she said.
“After all that time, it is laughable he is saying that the SNP are not to blame for the state Scotland is in, or that another divisive push for independence is the fresh start the country needs.
“It is time for John to move on.”
During his speech the First Minister announced the Scottish Government would sponsor social care workers from overseas to work in the country’s care homes.
He announced the move after he said “Westminster shut down the visa route for social care workers” and “even withdrew job offers that had already been promised”.
The result was, he said, that “thousands of care workers here in the UK entirely legally, have been left high and dry”, while at the same time “care homes are crying out for staff”.
Speaking at the SNP annual conference in Aberdeen, John Swinney asked: “In what world does that make any sense?”
He added: “I’ve got a solution. I can announce today that the Scottish Government is going to step in.
“We will sponsor these skilled staff so they can work, pay tax and help keep Scotland’s care homes running.
“Hundreds of dedicated workers, able to start work immediately.
“Scotland’s older people must not pay the price for Westminster’s prejudice.”