Ian Blackford tells SNP conference to "keep the heid"

Ian Blackford has claimed “the Tories are trying to provoke us”, with the SNP Westminster leader telling party members to “keep heart, keep the heid and keep the faith” ahead of the 2021 election.

Addressing SNP conference from Skye, Blackford highlighted concerns over the Internal Market Bill, claiming it represented an attack on devolution, while blasting UK ministers for plans to breach international law.

Blackford told delegates the Internal Market Bill handed the UK Government powers impacting on devolved areas covering infrastructure, economic development, culture, sport, education and training.

Blackford said: "Their agenda is clear. The Tories will seek to bypass democratically elected MSPs and ministers in Scotland. I suppose that’s what you get from a Prime Minister who was caught red handed calling Scottish devolution a ‘mistake’ and a ‘disaster’. As I told Boris Johnson in Westminster, it wasn’t a slip of the tongue - it was a slip of the Tory mask. 

"The Tories are trying to provoke us – and their tactics are becoming more desperate by the day.

"But it won’t work. We will remain calm, clear headed and confident. Because we are wise enough to know what ultimately happens to those who rage against democracy. We only need to look across the Atlantic to see. Democracy deniers are destined for only one thing – defeat.

"The choice before us is now clearer than ever. It is a choice between the compassionate leadership of our Scottish Government or the chaos and confusion we have been dealt from Westminster.

"Our plan, our job and our focus is winning an independence majority at Holyrood next May. We have our candidates in place, we have momentum, and we have a leader our nation trusts.

"If we succeed - that independence supporting parliament will decide the right time for the Scottish people to choose our constitutional future.

"We have all come a long way - and we are now within touching distance of independence. But just as we have travelled all this way together – we can only complete this journey together.

"My message to all of us is this: Keep heart, keep the heid and keep the faith. A new Scotland – fairer, greener and European - is now ours to win."