John Swinney: Scottish independence urgent and essential

First Minister John Swinney has told the SNP’s conference that independence is “urgent and essential”.

In a near-40 minute speech to the party’s annual conference in Edinburgh, Swinney said there had been an “intensification of austerity” under the new Labour government.

And while he pledged to work with Keir Starmer’s party, he said he would only do so if it was in Scotland’s interests.

In what was at times a personal speech, Swinney paid tribute to his wife Elizabeth, who has multiple sclerosis (MS), and spoke of defying his mum to go to the pub as a young SNP activist. He also thanked his predecessor, Humza Yousaf. 

He received a standing ovation when he promised to make independence “the route to a stronger and fairer country”.

He said: “One of the conclusions I have drawn from the Westminster election, and a fundamental commitment I will make to you is this: never again will we go into an election with people thinking: I like the idea of independence, but that can wait because I’m more concerned about the economy, or my job, or the cost of living or the NHS.

“My promise to you is that I will make sure independence is understood as the route to a stronger and fairer country.
 
“Understood not as nice to have – but as urgent and essential here and now. That is how we will make independence happen.”

MSPs return to Holyrood this week from their summer recess, with Swinney set to lay out his party’s programme for government and finance secretary Shona Robison expected to give further detail of the funding pressures which are likely to mean more cuts to public services.

There were no new policies or announcements in Swinney’s conference address – last year Yousaf announced a council tax freeze in his speech – but the first minister said he was proud of the spending decisions made by his government.

The SNP suffered a bruising result at the general election, seeing its number of MPs at Westminster reduced to just nine. Yesterday, the party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, told delegates the election result showed voters believed the party had “moved away” from the issues that really matter. In an interview with Holyrood, Flynn said the result would have been even worse had the party not ended its power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens.

Swinney said the SNP had “reflected as a party” and was “learning the lessons” of the election. He promised his party would look “outwards”.

But this was a speech which felt like it was aimed more at the party faithful than the wider public and was delivered in a hall with lots of empty seats.

The SNP leader said that while Labour had promised ‘change’ at the election, it had instead delivered an “intensification of Tory austerity”.

He said: “You might remember a moment during the election campaign when the Labour leader in Scotland said to me and to the people of Scotland: ‘read my lips: no austerity under Labour.’

“Within weeks, the Chancellor stood up and announced £22bn of spending cuts. That is politics at its most cynical – and a total breach of trust with all those who supported Labour.”

Responding to the speech, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “John Swinney's attempt at self-reflection rings hollow while the SNP is continuing to dodge responsibility for its record in government.  

“Instead, it was a copy-paste speech from a first minister out of ideas and more focussed on holding together his divided party than facing up to the challenges Scots face.”

Scottish Lib Dems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “After being in power for 17 years the SNP are overseeing spiralling NHS waiting lists and a stagnant economy. While being wracked by scandal and division they have mismanaged vital public services.

“Yet John Swinney would rather keep the focus on breaking up the UK as solution to all of Scotland's ills. It seems the SNP have not learnt anything from the defeat voters handed them in the election.”