\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Independence offers Scotland a fresh start. This is a moment of decision,” he told delegates.<\/p>\n
“We all face a choice. Decline, decay and despair with Westminster government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Or hope, optimism and ambition with Scottish self-government.\u00a0This is the moment for us to realise the true potential we have as a nation. Now is the time for Scotland to become independent.”\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: “On Saturday, we showed how serious we are about achieving that goal by agreeing our strategy to get us there,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We did so through reasoned, respectful and spirited discussion.<\/p>\n
“In a world where democracy is under threat, it is safe to say it is alive and well – and thriving – in the SNP.\n<\/p>\n
\n Elections to Holyrood take place in May next year(Image: Agency)\n<\/p>\n
\n \n Read More:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \n Addressing members on Monday afternoon, the First Minister said: \u201cOn Westminster\u2019s watch, the basic essentials of life \u2013 energy, food and more \u2013 are becoming more and more expensive.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIn many ways, the deep-seated problems facing the UK right now are a culmination of decades of failed Thatcherite economics.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cAn entire system, accepted by the Westminster parties, of being intensely relaxed about some people becoming filthy rich while everyone else struggles to get by.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt 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.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe became, in Westminster language, a \u201cdevolved nation\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n To loud applause from his supporters, he added: \u201cToday I believe it will be revulsion at Westminster\u2019s race to the right that will change Scotland\u2019s status again.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cFrom a so-called devolved nation, to what we can be: A modern, outward-looking, inclusive, compassionate country.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cNot a devolved nation. But the world\u2019s newest nation state. That, conference, is the fresh start Scotland needs.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Lamenting the \u201crace to the right\u201d at Westminster, the First Minister reached out to everyone living in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWherever 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,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd conference, yes, I am proud to say that refugees are welcome here.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe race to the right at Westminster is one reason why independence is so urgent and necessary.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n The SNP leader also used his keynote speech to his party conference to attack UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> and his \u201cvacuous Labour government\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n \n He said \u201cKeir Starmer promised to be a left-wing Labour leader, and then he became a right-wing Prime Minister.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cHe stole Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s clothes and now he\u2019s dressing up as Nigel Farage<\/a>.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n He claimed the PM \u201chasn\u2019t even tried to implement the progressive policies that people backed him for\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n And that, my friends, is the simple and stark choice facing Scotland.\u00a0<\/p>\n We choose not Westminster government<\/p>\n We choose self-government<\/p>\n We choose not isolationism<\/p>\n We choose internationalism<\/p>\n Never an island of strangers\u00a0<\/p>\n Always a continent of friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n Mr Swinney went on to add that the rise of Reform had prompted a \u201crace to the right\u201d in UK politics<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cFear of Farage is driving Westminster to more and more extreme views,\u201d the Scottish First Minister said.\n<\/p>\n \n The UK Government<\/a>\u2019s pledge to bring down energy bills will also come under fire, with the First Minister to dub Great British Energy \u201cthe Great British rip-off\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n 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.\n<\/p>\n \n 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 \u201cstaking his premiership on winning independence\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n But speaking on the BBC\u2019s Sunday Show, the First Minister said: \u201cIt would be kind of funny if I won the election then resigned.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cTo make progress on the independence question, we\u2019ve got to get 65 seats at the Scottish Parliament, that\u2019s what I\u2019m working to achieve.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m here for the long haul to lead the SNP and deliver for the people of Scotland.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Ahead of the address, Scottish Labour<\/a> deputy leader Jackie Baillie said the people of Scotland \u201cwon\u2019t be fooled\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cOur 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,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe SNP has had almost two decades to get it right, but things are only getting worse.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cInstead of focusing on the priorities of the people of Scotland, they\u2019ll spend their conference talking to themselves about division.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe can\u2019t risk a third decade of this tired and incompetent government.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cNext year\u2019s election is about removing them from power and only Scottish Labour can end the SNP\u2019s mismanagement and take Scotland in a new direction.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Meanwhile, Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton accused the First Minister of \u201cplaying to the nationalist gallery to distract from his party\u2019s atrocious record\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cHe 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\u2019 real priorities,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cAfter 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.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIt is time for John to move on.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Speaking at the final annual conference ahead of next year\u2019s election, the First Minister<\/a> 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.\n<\/p>\nThe First MInister atacked Keir Starmer’s Labour government(Image: )\n<\/p>\n