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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Sturgeon tells Scottish voters: 'Trust me to always do the best for you' - SNP conference live

Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party
Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), AFP PHOTO / ANDY BUCHANANAndy Buchanan,Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

And here are four more verdicts on Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.

Sturgeon has perfected the art of sounding both social democratic and nationalist at the same time, while winning elections. Her speech repeated that trick with enormous confidence and was rapturously received. But it had some tacky moments. There was a complete absence of social democratic internationalism in Sturgeon’s focus on Scotland’s steel industry job losses while ignoring those in England. And while it was understandable to start with good wishes for the recovery from Ebola of the Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey, it was narrow-minded not to acknowledge that the medics who are fighting for her life are NHS doctors in Tory-governed England.

The SNP’s current strategic position is so strong that the speech easily cleared any hurdle. The party is an incredibly broad church by any measure. Some people who voted SNP remain unsure about independence; others want a second independence referendum as soon as possible. Ideologically, the party spans the far left to the centre-right. The common thread that has enabled Sturgeon to hold it together is “stronger for Scotland”, an idea that sets the Scottish people against the Westminster elite and that has allowed the SNP to pick up votes from all three parties.

What a phenomenon Nicola Sturgeon is. Scotland’s First Minister is a political superstar who has that rarest of qualities in a leader: she is someone who manages to successfully project her personality when she is on the public stage. While she may have had image advisers improve her tailoring, her voice is her real voice, largely unchanged in 20 years, her mannerisms are not fake, and she is, unlike her predecessor Alex Salmond, not an ego-maniac. What you see when she is speechifying is roughly what you get from the person off stage.

Yet her speech to SNP conference in Aberdeen this weekend was not one of her finest. It is not just that the peroration lacked punch. She seemed not particularly fired up and it looked as though the huge SNP audience in the hall sensed it wasn’t the greatest. Perhaps the Nationalists have had so much excitement since the referendum that they can take no more?

Sturgeon’s delivery wasn’t the most captivating: she was often reading straight from her notes with her head down and her speech lacked variation in terms of tone and pace. But she did have some striking variations from Alex Salmond. At one point she even said the SNP would welcome uncomfortable scrutiny.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Here are two more verdicts on the speech.

From the Daily Record’s Torcuil Crichton

From Common Space’s Michael Gray

Tories accuse Sturgeon of taking their ideas

The Scottish Conservatives say that two of the key proposals in Nicola Sturgeon’s speech were their ideas in the first place.

This is from Jackson Carlaw, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

And this is from Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives.

Scottish Labour has responded to Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.

Nicola Sturgeon has tweeted “the ultimate selfie”.

Nicola Sturgeon's speech - Snap verdict

Nicola Sturgeon’s speech - Snap verdict: That felt a little underwhelming. In fact, at times it was even quite dull. Sturgeon, despite being the most successful politician in the UK, and capable at times of inspiring the adulation you might get from a combination of Nelson Mandela and Taylor Swift, is not a passionate orator. And this speech did not have any of the heady idealism of David Cameron’s social justice conference speech, or the ideological absolutism of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech. It was modest and down-to-earth, and in many ways unremarkable.

And, yet, there is a virtue in that. Sturgeon never struck a wrong note (except for the gag about Cameron’s being “pig-headed”, which went down well in the hall, but which was nevertheless cheap and unnecessary) and she did focus on routine, ordinary concerns that matter to people. The long list of SNP achievements was rhetorically tedious, but will be useful to SNP candidates in next year’s elections looking for a convenient summary of what their government has done. And the three big policy announcements in the speech were all, at face value (I haven’t had time to examine the small print), sound and practical. They were:

  • Childcare measures - Doubling childcare provision, extra nursery teachers, and greater flexibility in access to free childcare.
  • An increase in the carers’ allowance (taking it from £62.10 a week to £73.10 a week, at a cost of around £40m by 2020).
  • The £200m network of elective treatment centres.

These might not amount to the New Jerusalem. But they are mainstream proposals with a wide appeal.

In fact, the childcare announcement - doubling to 30 hours a week the free provision for three and four-year-olds - is remarkably similar to what David Cameron was promising for England in his Conservative manifesto at the general election. That’s a reminder of the fact that, for all their talk about ideology, political leaders have to respond to practical problems, and providing childcare for working parents is an issue all countries have to address in the 21st century. And Cameron, like Sturgeon, is also an election winner. They have succeeded because their politics is grounded in what people want.

Updated

And here’s Sturgeon’s peroration.

Friends,

It has been our privilege to lead Scotland for the past nine years.

To seek to lead our country for the next five - and into a new decade - is an even bigger privilege.

Let’s work harder than we have ever done before to win anew the trust of the people we serve.

Let’s get out there.

Let’s win for Scotland.

Sturgeon says the SNP won’t pretend to be perfect in the run up to the election.

Over these next few months - as we prepare to seek re-election - I won’t pretend that we are perfect. Or that I am perfect.

But I will promise this.

We will always strive to be the best that we can be.

She appeals to voters to trust her personally.

The choice at any election is about more than individual policies.

It’s about who you trust most - as your government and your First Minister - to provide the experience, the leadership, the ambition, the character and the unity of purpose to lead this country forward with confidence.

To the people of Scotland I ask this.

Trust us - trust me - to always do the best for you, for your family and for your community.

Sturgeon says SNP will increase value of carers' allowance

Sturgeon says the Scottish government will use the new powers in the Scotland bill to increase the value of the carers’ allowance.

In the first year of the new parliament, we intend to publish a Scottish social security bill, to set out how we will use our limited new welfare powers.

Fairness and dignity will be at its heart.

Today, I can confirm one of the specific commitments that the Bill will include.

The contribution carers make to our society is priceless.

But the support they receive in the form of carers’ allowance is the lowest of all working age benefits.

That is simply not fair.

That’s why I’m delighted to announce today that, when our government gets the power to do so, we will begin to increase carers’ allowance so that it is paid at the same level as jobseekers’ allowance.

Friends,

That’s a commitment that will benefit carers to the tune of £600 a year.

Sturgeon says it will not be Cameron who decides the future of Scotland, but the people of Scotland.

Sturgeon criticises David Cameron for announcing plans to press ahead with English votes for English laws the morning after the referendum.

In fact, the prime minister’s attitude to Scotland betrays the worst characteristics of his government – arrogant, patrician and out of touch.

Pig-headed some might say!

The joke goes down well.

Sturgeons says the Scotland bill does not come close to honouring the promises made before the referendum.

Even Gordon Brown is crying betrayal, she says.

What Gordon Brown really should be doing is apologising for acting as guarantor to the Tories and telling the Scottish people to trust them on more powers.

Sturgeon announces details of proposed £200m network of elective treatment centres

Sturgeon says the NHS has to prepare for the challenges of an ageing population.

And she announces that the SNP will create a £200m network of elective treatment centres if it wins the next election.

The Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank has been a huge success - specialising in elective procedures like hips, knees and cataracts and helping to take pressure off our emergency hospitals.

We now intend to extend that model.

I can announce today that over the next parliament, we will invest £200 million to create a new network of elective treatment centres.

We will extend the Golden Jubilee and develop new centres at St John’s in Livingston, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, at Ninewells in Dundee, at Raigmore in Inverness and here in this city at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Sturgeon announces free childcare will be more flexible

Sturgeon announces free childcare will be more flexible.

Of course, childcare also helps parents. It helps mothers in particular get back to work.

That’s good for families as well as for our national prosperity.

So to help parents further, I can also announce that as we expand the hours of childcare that children are entitled to, we will also increase the flexibility of it.

Over the next parliament, we will ensure that parents can opt to take their available hours of childcare to better suit their working patterns. They will, increasingly, be able to take them as full day sessions as well as half days. And they will have the right to spread these hours over the summer holidays as well as term time.

Sturgeon announces more nursery teachers

Sturgeon announces more nursery teachers.

Nursery education is all about giving children the best start in life.

That’s why quality is so important.

Over the next parliament we intend to substantially increase the number of qualified teachers working in nurseries.

Every nursery manager is already required to have a childcare degree, but we will go further.

I can announce today that, by 2018, every nursery in our most deprived areas will have an additional qualified teacher or childcare graduate.

Sturgeon announces plans to double childcare provision

Sturgeon announces plans to double childcare provision.

Access to high quality early years education for children from deprived backgrounds is the most effective way to reduce the gap in attainment.

That is why, in the next parliament, our most transformative infrastructure project will not be a bridge or a road or a railway - important though all those things are.

Our flagship infrastructure project will be a revolution in early years education and childcare.

By the end of the next parliament, we will double childcare provision to 30 hours a week for all 3 and 4 year olds and vulnerable 2 year olds.

Friends,

That’s a commitment worth £4,500 a year for families across Scotland.

Sturgeon commits herself to closing the attainment gap

Sturgeon commits herself to closing the attainment gap.

We are the party of the future.

That’s why I’ve put closing the educational attainment gap at the heart of our government’s agenda.

It matters so much to me that I’ve done something politicians don’t often do.

I’ve put my own neck on the line.

If I’m standing here seeking re-election five years from now, I want to be judged on the progress we make.

Sturgeon says she wants Scotland to be a can do country.

I want the motto of our country to be Can Do Scotland.

Labour and the Tories - Scotland’s can’t do parties - will hate it.

But it’s the spirit that will make this country the powerhouse we know it can be.

Sturgeon says Scotland is making its mark on the world.

Under our leadership, Scotland is making its mark on the world.

More universities per head of population in the world’s top 100 than any other country on the planet.

World leading climate change legislation.

And - I am proud to say - one of just a few countries in the world leading by example on gender balance, with a 50/50 Scottish cabinet.

She says one of her favourite books is How the Scots invented the modern world.

The book charts all the Scottish inspired innovations - in philosophy, education, commerce, engineering, industry, architecture, medicine - that have shaped the world we live in today.

Friends,

Let’s dare to dream that Scotland will shape tomorrow’s world just as decisively as we have shaped today’s.

Sturgeon says she wants to fight the election on the SNP’s record.

That’s our record. We should shout it from the rooftops.

And when our opponents say they want to put it at the heart of the election, let us say ‘bring it on’.

The NHS budget in Scotland is £3m higher than when the SNP took office. And it employs 10,000 more people.

Today, the target is 12 weeks and 95% are seen within it.

That’s real improvement - delivered by NHS staff, supported by your SNP government.

And, don’t forget, we also abolished prescription charges so that access to medicine is once again free at the point of need.

Sturgeon is still talking about her government’s achievements.

We are meeting our targets on renewable energy and cutting carbon emissions.

And we are safeguarding our environment with a moratorium on fracking.

We introduced universal free school meals for all pupils in primaries 1, 2 & 3.

We are investing £100 million every year to protect against welfare cuts.

And we have taken action to make sure that no one in Scotland has to pay the Tory bedroom tax.

We have created the most competitive business rates regime anywhere in the UK and inward investment is at record levels.

The small business bonus today is helping almost 100,000 businesses across our country.

Crime is at a 41 year low.

And, delegates, we have frozen the council tax for 8 straight years in a row.

Sturgeon says there will be no tuition fees in Scotland while she is first minister

Sturgeon admits the SNP’s record has not been perfect.

[The SNP’s record is[ not perfect - of course it’s not - the recession and Westminster austerity have created a financial climate much tougher than anything we could have contemplated back in 2007.

But, make no mistake, it is a record I am proud of.

She says the SNP has protected free university education, and there will be no tuition fees while she is first minister.

The party protected and extended the educational maintenance allowance. More students from poor backgrounds are going to university. There has been a record number of apprenticeships.

We have rebuilt or refurbished more than a fifth of all schools across our country.

And that’s why there are almost 150,000 fewer children learning in outdated classrooms today than when Labour was last in office.

We have extended free early years education and childcare.

And we introduced equal marriage and made this country fairer as a result.

We have a higher proportion of our workforce now earning the living wage - the real living wage - than any other nation in the UK.

Sturgeon says the SNP will go into the elections with a strong and proud record of delivery.

She pays tribute to her predecessor, Alex Salmond, saying that over the last nine year, when he was leader for most of that time, the party laid strong foundations.

The other parties say they want to fight the election on our record.

Well, I say, “good” - because so do I.

The SNP still believes in independence, she says.

But there are no shortcuts to independence. The SNP must build the case for it, she says.

Turning to next year’s elections, Sturgeon says she wants people to vote SNP positively again.

I won’t ask you to vote SNP - or re-elect me as your First Minister - just because the opposition is not up to the job.

I intend to prove to you that we are the best government, with the best people and the best ideas, to lead this country, confidently, into the next decade.

Sturgeon says at the election people did not just vote SNP, they voted for the party enthusiastically.

The election reflected the new, positive, post referendum mood in Scotland.

We are a more confident country. We believe that our views matter and deserve to be heard. We are determined to no longer be sidelined or ignored.

And Sturgeon says backing these cuts will hurt the Scottish Tories.

And for the Scottish Tories - currently shaping up to present themselves as tax cutters in the Scottish election - it presents this choice.

Whose side are they on? George Osborne’s or the working people of Scotland?

Because it simply can’t be both.

If they back these cuts, that choice will haunt them every single day from now to the Scottish election next May.

Sturgeon says tax credit cuts will hit some families as much as income tax rising to 90%

Sturgeon says the tax credit cuts are as bad as the poll tax.

Make no mistake, tax credit cuts are right up there with the bedroom tax as the most iniquitous policy since Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax.

In Scotland, around 200,000 working families with children stand to lose an average of £3000 a year.

That’s staggering - but sometimes big numbers mask the real human impact.

So let me tell you exactly what these cuts could mean for an ordinary family.

Imagine a couple with two children who live in a council house. One parent works full time, the other part time. Both earn just above the level of the minimum wage.

Next year they’ll gain around £80 from the increase in the personal allowance.

But they’ll lose more than £2000 of their tax credits.

That net loss is equivalent to their basic rate of income tax rising to 90%.

Can you imagine if the Chancellor had told people before the election that he was going to increase the basic rate of income tax to anywhere near 90%?

No one would have voted for him.

But he thinks it’s acceptable to do the equivalent of that to some of the lowest paid people in our society - and not even mention it in his manifesto.

Well, it is not acceptable.

It is nothing short of scandalous.

Sturgeon says the SNP will campaign positively for Britain to stay in the EU.

Sturgeon rules out backing air strikes in Syria

Sturgeon says British air strikes in Syria would be pointless.

The motivation for UK military action appears to be based on a need to do something, rather than any real consideration of whether the action proposed will make a positive difference.

This question has not been answered - when airstrikes by US, Russian, Arab, Turkish and French forces have not brought this multi-layered conflict closer to a resolution, what possible grounds are there for believing that adding UK airstrikes will do so?

The risk is that they will simply add to the already unimaginable human suffering.

The SNP would vote against air strikes in Syria, she says.

Strugeon says Cameron’s response to the refugee crisis was inadequate.

Eventually Cameron said Britain would take 20,000 refugees over five years.

But that does not go far enough, she says.

Let us call again today on the UK to do more, as part of a co-ordinated European response, to deal with this humanitarian crisis.

And let us pledge again that Scotland stands ready and willing to play our full part.

Sturgeon turns to the Tories.

Last week, David Cameron had the audacity to claim that his government stood against poverty, inequality and discrimination.

Well let me offer some home truths to the prime minister.

You don’t fight poverty by hammering the incomes of the lowest paid.

You don’t fight inequality by repealing the Human Rights Act and attacking the freedoms of trade unionists.

And you certainly don’t fight discrimination by having a Home Secretary whose views on immigration are indistinguishable from those of Nigel Farage.

Sturgeon says the UK faces another decade of Tory government

Sturgeon says the UK faces another decade of Tory government.

Labour’s failure to meet even the basic requirements of an effective opposition - to be united and credible as an alternative government - should make them deeply ashamed of themselves.

Their disunity threatens to consign the UK to another decade of Tory government.

That’s a tragedy for people all across the UK.

But for more and more people in Scotland, Labour’s inability to mount a credible challenge for government will bring into sharp focus this fundamental truth.

The only real and lasting alternative to Tory governments that we don’t vote for is independence for our country.

Sturgeon criticises Labour for not having a clear position on Trident

Sturgeon says Labour is intent on supporting the renewal of Trident despite Corbyn’s opposition to it.

A party that can’t be crystal clear about its position on an issue as fundamental as nuclear weapons doesn’t deserve support - not from those who oppose Trident and not from those who support it either.

Labour will have to decide what side it is on...

...because I know what side we are on.

The renewal of Trident is unjustified. It is unaffordable. It is immoral.

Be in no doubt. The SNP will stand against Trident - today, tomorrow and always.

Sturgeon says she had high hopes of Jeremy Corbyn when he was elected.

I don’t mind admitting I had high hopes when Jeremy Corbyn was elected. I don’t agree with him on everything. And I didn’t expect to convert him to the cause of independence - not immediately, anyway!

But I did hope he would change Labour.

But, so far, Jeremy Corbyn isn’t changing Labour - he’s allowing Labour to change him.

At the start of this week, he planned to vote for George Osborne’s fiscal charter.

It was only pressure from the SNP that forced him to change position

Proving, again, that the only party with the unity and determination to stand strong against austerity is the SNP.

Sturgeon says the SNP are “a left-of-centre social democratic party”.

The party will always stand up for Scotland, he says.

And it provides “the only effective opposition to the Tories at Westminster”.

Sturgeon is having another go at Labour.

Some say we live in a post-political age.

A time when old labels of “left” and “right” are meaningless.

I don’t agree with that.

I happen to think that where you stand matters.

We face a Tory party that - despite its rhetoric - is shifting sharply to the right.

And Labour? Well, they can’t agree whether to move leftwards, rightwards or go round in circles.

As a result, the only place Labour is going is deeper and deeper into the political wilderness.

Strugeon says the SNP will welcome scrutiny.

We will welcome scrutiny - no matter how tough it might sometimes feel.

We will respect those whose opinion differs from ours.

We will strive each and every day to do our very best.

Sturgeon says SNP must never become "arrogant, lazy and complacent' like Labour

But the SNP’s best days are ahead of it, she says.

The SNP must never take any vote for granted.

Some say that Labour has lost its sense of purpose - and it has.

But Labour does still serve one useful purpose - for the SNP.

Scottish Labour stands as a constant reminder to our party of what we must never become - they were arrogant, lazy and complacent.

Sturgeon says 'the SNP's heartland is Scotland'

And Sturgeon looks at where the SNP win.

Commentators sometimes talk of political parties having heartlands.

So let’s look at the SNP’s success.

From the Highlands and our western islands, to this granite city of the North-East.

Through Stirling, across Fife in the east, to Ayrshire in the west and down to the borders.

In our great cities of the central belt.

The people all across our country are speaking.

Their message is clear.

The SNP’s heartland?

The SNP’s heartland is Scotland.

Sturgeon says, if SNP was a UK party, it would have more than 1m members

And the increase in the membership is extraordinary, she says.

Our party membership has also continued to grow.

Today, our membership stands at more than 114,000.

That’s the equivalent of a UK party having more than one million members.

Sturgeon says SNP has won 22 out of last 24 council byelections

But the real highlight was winning the election, she says. She invites the audience to applaud the new MPs.

And the party is still winning, she points out.

Our general election victory made headlines.

But you might be interested to know that we’ve also contested 24 local by-elections in the last few months.

And we have won 22 of them.

Sturgeon wishes the Scottish rugby team well in the world cup quarter finals on Sunday.

It is just a year since she became leader, she says. Last year she was “more than a little apprehensive”.

Then she goes into a joke about the Daily Mail.

I thought I might just recap on some of the highlights...if that’s OK with you...

...and, no I don’t mean that special moment when the Daily Mail bestowed upon me the coveted title of most dangerous woman in Britain.

Though that does remain, by far, the nicest thing the Daily Mail has ever said about me.

Sturgeon says she will set up taskforce to try to rescue steel industry in Scotland

Sturgeon turns to the Tata steelplants in Scotland.

Workers at the Tata Steel plants at Dalzell and Clydebridge are this weekend facing an uncertain future.

The company has not yet publicly confirmed its plans.

However, if our worst fears are realised next week, I can confirm that I will immediately establish a taskforce to work with the company, the trade unions and the relevant local authorities.

And I promise this -

We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to find and secure a viable future for these plants and for our steel industry here in Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon starts “on a sombre note”.

All of us love the NHS, she says. If there is one person who encapsulates that, it is nurse Pauline Cafferkey. As a result of her bravery fighting Ebola, she is now fighting for her own life.

Let us send her all the love and strength we can as we wish her the quickest possible recovery.

Stewart Hosie, the SNP deputy leader, introduces Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the most united party in the UK.

Nicola Sturgeon's speech

At the SNP conference they are getting ready for Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.

First, there is a big photocall with all the SNP candidates for next year’s elections.

Nicola Sturgeon is due to start speaking in about 15 minutes.

Journalists have already been briefed on the speech, although on an embargoed basis (on condition that it is not reported until she speaks.)

Alan Trench, the academic who writes the Devolution Matters blog, has written a helpful post looking at Grahame Smith’s argument that the Scottish government has the power to stop the trade union bill being implemented in Scotland. (See 9.06am.) Smith is wrong, he says. The Scottish government cannot block the bill in Scotland.

Here’s an excerpt.

Smith and others may believe that the powers of the Scottish Parliament are other than they are, as part of an argument that they should be broader. This provides a convenient campaigning platform to oppose Westminster legislation they dislike, and to try to mobilise opposition to the legislation they dislike into opposition to the Union more generally. That’s clearly the line the Scottish Government is taking, with Roseanna Cunningham seeking to exempt Scotland from the bill generally rather than argue the constitutional point. Even if Scottish opponents of the bill succeed in getting Holyrood to consider legislative consent (there’s nothing to stop it debating and rejecting a motion), that will have no constitutional impact, because there’s noconstitutional basis to say that devolved consent is needed here.

Sturgeon tells Scottish voters - 'Trust me to always do the best for you'

According to extracts from Nicola Sturgeon’s speech released in advance, she is going to make an unusually personal pitch to voters ahead of next year’s elections. And she will also adopt a tone of humility.

  • Sturgeon tells Scottish voters: ‘Trust me to always do the best for you.” In her speech she will say:

The choice at any election is about more than individual policies.

It’s about who you trust most - as your government and your first minister - to provide the experience, the leadership, the ambition, the character and the unity of purpose to lead this country forward with confidence.

To the people of Scotland I ask this: trust us, trust me, to always do the best for you, for your family and for your community. And trust the SNP to always be stronger for Scotland.

  • Sturgeon acknowledges that the SNP has its faults. In her speech she will say:

Over these next few months - as we prepare to seek reelection - I won’t pretend that we are perfect. Or that I am perfect. But I will promise this: we will always strive to be the best that we can be. And we will serve this country with imagination, courage, humility and always to the very best of our abilities.

This seems to be a reference to the Michelle Thomson controversy. But the reference to “humility” also seems to be a sly attempt by Sturgeon to differentiate herself from her predecessor, Alex Salmond. The former first minister is credited with many virtues, but modesty is not one of them.

Moving on from the “no detriment” principles, my colleague Ewen MacAskill has some news about the most bizarre story of the conference: the BuzzFeed tale about Alex Salmond saying he had seen a photograph suggesting ghosts exist. (See 9.55am.) He’s confirmed that Salmond was just playing a joke.

At the IFS fringe one SNP delegate strongly criticised the IFS for its conduct during the election, claiming that it seemed to be operating like a political party and that it was biased against independence. Paul Johnson strongly rejected this, saying the IFS was neutral, and that it was entitled to point out the financial problems an independent Scotland would face. He said he “resented” the accusation of bias. John Swinney did not endorse the criticism from the delegate. Some of the IFS comments were unhelpful to the SNP, he said, but some were helpful.

Earlier Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, was addressing the fringe. Here are some tweets about his comments.

The Smith commission was the cross-party body that drew up measures for further devolution to Scotland after last year’s independence referendum. The proposals are being implemented in the Scotland bill. The “no detriment” clause in the Smith report said that, after devolution, the UK government should compensate Scotland, or vice versa, for tax decisions that affect the revenue going to the other other government. But quite what this would mean in practice was not clear. There are more details here.

Swinney says, even after the Scotland bill becomes law, most of the key decisions about tax affecting Scotland will still be taken in London.

Swinney says 'progressive principle' will guide SNP tax decisions

Swinney turns to the topic that he thinks drew people to the fringe meeting: what the SNP will do about tax.

And he’s not going to say, he says. That will have to wait for the budget.

But he would make the point that tax has an important role to play in holding society together, he says.

And he says his stamp duty reforms show that “the progressive principle” will be at the heart of the decisions the government takes tax.

Swinney says he has served in both parliaments, and the degree of rigour that applies to the scrutiny of tax measures is Holyrood is much higher than at Westminster.

John Swinney at the Institute for Fiscal Studies fringe

John Swinney, the Scottish finance minister, is speaking at an Institute for Fiscal Studied fringe on whether the tax system is fair.

He says he was one of the people involved in drawing up the process the Scottish parliament follows when setting a budget.

Now, as finance minister, he is following the rules he helped to set up.

At Westminster the chancellor can announce a surprise move, and implement it immediately. In Scotland the finance minister has to consult.

The Westminster system leads to bad and over-complicated legislation, he says.

And here is a full quote from Leanne Wood’s speech. The Plaid Cymru leader said Labour was failing Wales.

In Wales we have a double whammy. We are a nation without basic powers and have a government that would not have a clue what to do with them if it had them.

Here in Scotland you have an SNP government led by a more than able first minister, whereas in Wales we have a Labour government.

We have a Labour government presiding over the decline of our country. Your Labour leader came to Wales recently to learn lessons when Wales needs to learn lessons from Scotland.

We have an NHS devolved and protected from Tory privatisation but an NHS led by a Labour administration that is unable to deliver for patients. It isn’t devolution that is failing Wales, it is Labour that is failing Wales.

In Scotland you have broken the Tory-Labour duopoly and our aim is to do exactly the same in Wales.

Wood also said she hoped that Plaid Cymru would win the Welsh assembly elections next year.

In Wales and in Scotland, our respective national parties provide the united alternative to Tory rule our peoples deserve.

It is my determined resolution to lead the party of Wales into government next May because that represents the change Wales needs, the future our people deserve. It is my hope therefore to return to your conference next year and congratulate you on yet another famous election success but to do so as the newly elected first minister of Wales.

But this seems unlikely. While the SNP has a majority at Holyrood, and won 56 out of 59 Scottish seats at the general election, Plaid Cymru is the third party in the Welsh assembly. And at the general election, even though it came third in Wales in terms on numbers of seats, it came fourth behind Ukip in terms of share of the vote.

Nicola Sturgeon (left) and Leanne Wood
Nicola Sturgeon (left) and Leanne Wood Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

My colleague Jonathan Freedland has written about the SNP conference in his Guardian column today. He thinks Jeremy Corbyn could learn something from its success. Here’s an excerpt.

The SNP’s appeal is that it’s both organised in its methods and radical in its offer. That’s down to the unique position it occupies, simultaneously the majority party in a country and a movement campaigning for self-rule. It gets to be both the incumbent, steady and dependable, in Edinburgh; and the insurgent, setting off fireworks, in Westminster – both government and national liberation movement. It’s both Swinney, the bespectacled technocrat described by Kerevan as a “fiscal conservative”, and Mhairi Black, the 20-year-old anti-austerity activist – at the same time. That’s quite a sweet spot.

Up against that, Labour scarcely has a prayer. When it knew how to make the trains run on time, back in the Blair-Brown era, it seemed managerial. Now that it’s proclaiming its values again, under Corbyn, it’s coming off the rails. The SNP, meanwhile, glides relentlessly forward, claiming both competence and principle, barely an obstacle in its path.

Here the direct quote from Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish work and skills minister, saying Scotland should be excluded from the UK government’s trade union bill. (See 10.32am.)

I have looked at the bill really carefully and given the extent of the risk to us around the future use of this legislation, and abuse which may arise, the only solution I can see is to ask that Scotland is excluded from the entire bill.

It is the only way in which we would be able maintain the integrity of our more progressive approach of working in partnership with trade unions.

An approach which actually delivers on a better industrial relations landscape instead of creating a landscape which will create an even worse scenario than the Domesday scenario they seem to think exists already.

So we are absolutely 100% against this bill and we want Scotland to be out of it.

Most SNP activists want second independence referendum before 2020, survey suggests

The Herald has been carrying out a survey of delegates at the SNP conference. It is based on a very small sample, just 100 activists, but even so these exercises can still be revealing. The full write-up is here, and it’s an interesting read, but three findings stand out.

  • A majority of SNP activists want a second independence referendum before 2020, a Herald survey suggests. Some 60% said the right time for a second referendum would be before 2020, and another 35% said between 2020 and 2025.
  • SNP activists are split over whether the Scottish government should use the new powers it is getting to raise income tax to offset the impact of austerity, the survey suggests.

Members were split almost down the middle over whether Holyrood should use new powers over income tax to raise the levy and help ease austerity imposed by Westminster.

Just over a third, 36, said they backed raising tax, just two more than those who were opposed to the option.

Some expressed their suspicion of the Scotland bill with one explaining their decision to vote choose No by writing the powers over income tax would become “a noose around the neck” of the Scottish Parliament while another added: “why should we supplement Westminster further?”

  • Most SNP activists think of themselves as socialists, the survey suggests.

There is a lot of debate about just how left-wing the SNP is. Some critics reckon the party is made up of Tartan Tories. Others think they are dangerous lefties. So we asked our 100 volunteers how many think of themselves as socialists.

The reds have it! Socialists outnumber all others by 2-1. Ms Sturgeon, for what it is worth, describes herself as a social democrat. Is this what you would have expected from a group of activists at SNP conference? I was surprised yes is so high, maybe a sign of party to the left of its leadership?

Wood quotes Gladstone saying you cannot fight the future.

It is her intention to lead Plaid Cymru into government in Wales, she says. Next time she comes to the conference, she wants to come as first minister of Wales.

Leanne Wood, the Plaid Cymru leader, is addressing the SNP conference now.

She is attacking Labour’s record in Wales.

Scotland 'deserves better' from BBC, Scottish government says

Here are some quotes from the speeches in the BBC debate.

From Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish culture minister

Scotland deserves a better service from the BBC and Scotland must have a better service from the BBC ...

I want to see a bold and radical alternative to the out-of-touch centralised structure and decision making of the BBC. The BBC is barely playing catch-up with devolution, let alone leading from the front, and they know it. The news and current affairs does not satisfy its audiences, with over 50% saying it does not reflect Scotland properly, and they know it ...

Remember delegates, Scotland raises £323m from the licence fee, the BBC spends around £190m for BBC Scotland, but only a fraction of that is spent in production for Scotland. That has to change.

From John Nicolson, the SNP MP

Friends, we have been watching developments at the BBC with concern for years. The BBC in Scotland is less trusted - that’s according to the BBC themselves - than any other constituent nation in the United Kingdom. And many blame the referendum. Let’s face it, the corporation did not exactly cover itself with glory.

But let me be clear; I support public sector broadcasting ... I know there are some in this hall who would like to see an end to the BBC. But we should be careful what we wish for, because the Conservatives hate idea of public service broadcasting, and down that route, the end of public service broadcasting, lies Fox News and all its stands for.

Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish culture minister, is summing up the debate.

Scotland deserves a better BBC, she says.

She says she will be fighting for a better deal for Scotland from the BBC during the charter renewal process.

John Nicolson, the SNP MP and a former BBC presenter, is speaking now.

He says the referendum coverage showed the flaws with the BBC.

Some in the hall would probably like to see the BBC abolished, he says. But they should be careful. That is what the Tories want, he says. And if Britain went down that route, we would under up with Fox News-style coverage.

Instead the BBC needs to be reformed. And Scotland needs a separate Six O’Clock News, he says.

As politics.co.uk reports, the BBC also came under ferocious attack at a fringe event yesterday.

One delegate, Glasgow councillor Phil Greene, compared the BBC’s coverage to the propaganda of Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels.

Another delegate complained about the size of Scotland, as depicted on the BBC’s weather forecast map. There were also complaints that the corporation did not show more coverage of other small countries seeking independence, such as Catalonia.

One delegate received applause after telling BBC journalists at the event that “nobody believes what is on BBC News”, while another delegate stormed out complaining about BBC “propaganda”.

BBC 'not fit for purpose', SNP told

Delegates are now debating a resolution on the BBC, saying that the BBC charter review should take into account the interests of Scotland and that power over broadcasting should be devolved to the Scottish parliament.

There were loud cheers when Doug Thomson, a delegate, said the BBC was “not fit for purpose”.

Scottish government says it wants Scotland to be excluded from trade union bill

Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish government’s cabinet secretary for fair work, skills and training, is speaking now.

She says the SNP government does not support any aspect of the bill.

She and Grahame Smith gave evidence to a Commons committee about it, she says. But there were only given 20 minutes to make their case, she says.

And if you ask Tories why this bill is needed, they cannot tell you, she says.

She says in Scotland the number of days lost through strike action has gone down, she says.

She says the Scottish government thinks Scotland should be excluded from the entire bill. It would undermine the effective inclusion of unions in the workplace in Scotland.

It would have a particular impact on the public services, she says.

She says she has studied the bill carefully. And the only solution is to ask that Scotland is excluded from the entire bill, she says.

She says the Scottish government is 100% opposed to the bill, and “we want Scotland out of it”, he says.

  • Roseanna Cunningham, Scotland’s work and skills minister, says the Scottish government wants Scotland excluded from the trade union bill. But quite what this means in practice is not clear, because the UK government takes the view that the Scottish government cannot block it. See 9.45am.

And he says he expects the Scottish government to block the bill in Scotland.

Let us also be clear, the provisions of this bill intrude on devolved responsibilities to such an extent that not one clause should be applied to Scotland without the consent of the Scottish parliament, a consent that I am confident would not be forthcoming.

He ends by urging SNP members to join a union if they are not already in one.

Smith says thresholds are wrong in principle.

Thresholds are undemocratic and wrong in principle. They are wrong at 50%. They are wrong at 40%. They are wrong at 30% or 20%. There is no deal to be done on thresholds other than to drop them completely.

Smith says the government’s opposition to allowing unions to use online voting for strike ballots is hypocritical.

If the Tories were serious about increasing participation in ballots, which i am all in favour of, they would allow union to use secure online balloting, including on-line balloting at the workplace.

We can bank online. We are encouraged by the UK government do a range of government business online, like pay your car tax or apply for a driving licence.

You can vote for the leader of a political party on line, or in the case of the Tories, vote online for your candidate in the London Mayoral election.

Smith claims the measures in the bill introducing thresholds for strike ballots are undemocratic.

The bill raises serious questions about the nature of democracy in the UK and should be of concern not just to unions and their members but to anyone concerned about democracy, human rights and civil liberties ...

The Tories claim that their proposals on ballot thresholds are about outlawing undemocratic strike action.

This has nothing to do with democracy.

I will not take lectures about democracy from a government elected on only 24% of those eligible to vote – and only 10% of those eligible to vote in Scotland - much less, of course, than the proposed thresholds that they wish to impose on strike ballots.

Smith challenges the evidence used by the government to justify the measures in the bill.

The so called ‘evidence’ on picketing, none or which comes from employers or workers claiming intimidation, includes such extreme tactics as:

The use of air horns in public places;

Walking slowly in front of vehicles;

Using the internet to post intimidatory material (undefined) and blocking the access for shoppers at the doors to retail stores.

It mentions that during the Ineos dispute secondary targeting occurred at a number of premises and suppliers who had links to Grangemouth.

Unite the union put a large inflatable rat outside the offices of Jim Ratcliffe the owner of Ineos!

It depends very much what you define as intimidation!

I think it is intimidation if an employer, as in the case of Ineos, threatens to close a plant and take away workers’ livelihoods.

This gets a large round of applause.

Smith says he will focus on the trade union bill.

This is a bill presented as solutions to problems that simply don’t exist.

We do not have a strike problem. And even if we did, that would be no reason to trample over workers’ civil and human rights.

STUC leader Grahame Smith speaks to the SNP

Grahame Smith, the STUC general secretary, is speaking now.

He has been asked to second the resolution, even though he is not an SNP member.

The conference proceedings have started. The SNP MP Chris Stephens is proposing a resolution criticising the trade union bill. The resolution says the measures in the bill are “an ideological attack against the largest part of civic society, are unnecessary, and are in contravention of human rights”.

The bill will restrict facility time, he says, referring to the practice of allowing workers to engage in union activities in work time. But facility time is good for labour relations, he says.

And it will stop “check off”, the practice of allowing union members to have their union fees deducted from their pay. That is unfair, he says, because workers are allowed to pay their council tax like this.

UPDATE: Earlier I wrongly said Chris Stephens was Chris Smith. I’m sorry about that. I’ve corrected it now.

Updated

In one of the most peculiar stories of the conference, BuzzFeed quotes Alex Salmond, Scotland’s former first minister, saying that he once saw a photograph suggesting that ghosts actually exist.

UPDATE: But is it just a wind up?

Updated

On Twitter Philip Grant points out that Grahame Smith also spoke at the Scottish Green party conference earlier this month.

In his speech Grahame Smith, the STUC leader, will argue that the Scottish government has the power to stop the trade union bill being implemented in Scotland. (See 9.06am.) He suggests the Scottish government should refuse to give the bill “legislative consent”, which is required when the UK government legislates on a matter devolved to the Scottish parliament.

But this is a contentious proposition. The UK government does not accept that the bill requires legislative consent, as annex A of the bill explains. It says: “No legislative consent motions are required because the subject-matter of the bill is not devolved to the Welsh Assembly or the Scottish Parliament.”

But in Scotland it is not just the STUC that is arguing that the Scottish government should block the bill. The Scottish Greens and Rise, the new socialist coalition, also want the Scottish government to refuse the bill legislative consent.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister, closes her party’s conference with a keynote speech this afternoon and two news stories from it have already been briefed in advance. But there is a busy programme too, and the highlight this morning will be a speech from Grahame Smith, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress. It is the first time the STUC leader has addressed an SNP conference and, given that the union movement has for more than a century been closely linked to Labour (some, but not all, STUC unions are affiliated to the party and fund it), this is indicative of how allegiances are shifting.

Smith will be talking about the UK government’s trade union bill.

  • Grahame Smith, leader of the Scottish Trade Unions Congress, will tell the Scottish government that it has the power to stop the trade union bill being implemented in Scotland. According to extracts from his speech released in advance, he will say:

The UK is conspicuous in not recognising the importance of constructive industrial relations and the many benefits that come from the effective voice that unions provide, something that is well recognised in successful northern European economies – in Germany and in Scandinavia.

And it is also not the approach to unions and industrial relations we are trying to create here in Scotland.

And this makes the case for powers over employment protection to be devolved at the earliest possible opportunity even more compelling.

But let us also be clear, the provisions of this bill [the trade union bill] intrude on devolved responsibilities to such an extent that not one clause should be applied to Scotland without the consent of the Scottish parliament, a consent that I am confident would not be forthcoming.

And here are the two lines from Sturgeon’s speech that have already been briefed in advance.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10am: Debate on trade union rights, with a speech from Grahame Smith, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, followed by debates on support for families and the BBC charter review.

11.15am: Speech from Leanne Wood, leader of Plaid Cymru.

11.30am: Debates on food poverty, renewable energy and changing place accessible toilets.

2pm: Debates on support for women, autism and the justice system and marine tourism.

2.50pm: Topical and emergency resolutions.

3.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, closes the conference with her keynote speech.

I will be covering the conference all day.

If you want to follow me on Twitter or get in touch, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Updated

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