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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

SNP conference: May is 'in office but not in power', says Swinney - Politics live

Nicola Sturgeon on the platform at the SNP conference yesterday.
Nicola Sturgeon on the platform at the SNP conference yesterday. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

Afternoon summary

  • Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has said that she wants to explore “creative” solutions that might allow Scotland to stay in the single market. In interviews at the SNP conference in Glasgow, she stressed that she was not “rushing” towards a second independence referendum. She said that she would be publishing plans that could enable Scotland to remain in the single market, even if the rest of the UK takes a different approach to Brexit. At one point she mentioned Iceland as a potential model. (See 9.18am.) At another she suggested a solution could involve the Scots keeping EU passports. (See 3.19pm.)
  • Number 10 has suggested that Theresa May would oppose an attempt by the Scottish government to hold a second independence referendum. (See 1.06pm.) Earlier Sturgeon said it was “inconceivable” that London would try to block a second poll.
  • The SNP conference has overwhelmingly backed a resolution saying that “if no viable solution to safeguard our membership as part of the UK exists, Scotland should prepare for a second independence referendum and seek to remain in Europe as an independent country”. Speaking in support of it, Mike Russell, the Scottish Brexit minister, said:

We have to speak as a nation, we have to discuss as a nation, we have to act as a nation. And that is what we will do at every stage of the negotiations. We will not accept the arrogant assumption that we can sit in the corner while somebody else speaks on behalf of the vital interests of Scotland. That will never happen, never ever.

  • Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, has condemned Theresa May’s “depressing little England” while welcoming the Austraian Brain family, who successfully fought deportation, to the conference. Salmond criticised the way the Home Office treated the Brian and he contrasted Scotland’s approach to immigrants with the Conservative government’s. He said:

They say that people who choose to live and work in our country are a problem and need to be kicked out, we say they are an asset and must stay with us.

They say that other Europeans among us are cards to be played or bargaining chips to be staked, we say they are our fellow citizens, the workers at our side, the nurses in our hospitals, people with rights which must be respected.

They want lists of foreign workers so they can name and shame companies who employ them, but let me tell you the shame is not with the companies - the shame is with a government who proposed this repellent notion. We want a country living and growing with no fear in celebrating our diversity.

We should be grateful to the Tory party. In their Birmingham conference they lifted the lid on the true intent and the emptiness of their programme.

If we stick to London rule then we know exactly what lies in store. Boiled down to its essence a closed, intolerant, backward-looking society. Theresa May’s little England - has there ever been a more miserable, depressing, backward-looking notion ever offered to the people of this nation?

Contrasting Scotland’s pro-immigration approach with the London government’s more negative approach to immigration has been one of the dominant themes of speeches and debates all afternoon.

Alex Salmond speaking at the conference.
Alex Salmond speaking at the conference. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
  • John Swinney, the Scottish deputy first minster and education secretary, has said EU citizens who come to Scotland to study at university next year will not have to pay tuition fees despite the Brexit vote. He said EU students from outside the UK starting courses in 2017-18 will still receive a free university education. The UK government has announced EU citizens starting at English universities in 2017-18 will continue to be eligible for student loans and grants.
  • Swinney has described May as “in office but not in power”, claiming her government’s priorities are being decided not by her but by rightwing, pro-leave Tories. In a separate speech Angus Robertson, the party’s leader at Westminster and its newly elected deputy leader, said May’s days were “numbered” if she ignored Scotland’s desire to stay in the EU. He said:

Theresa May says that options for keeping Scotland in the EU are impractical, that we’ve had our referendum and that there will be a UK approach to Brexit.

She refuses to accept that for Scotland, for us, remain means remain.

My message to the prime minister is this: if you continue to ignore the express will of the people of Scotland, if you refuse to even consider how we might protect Scotland’s place in the EU, then be in no doubt, your days as prime minister of a United Kingdom are numbered.

That’s all from me for today.

I will be blogging again from the conference tomorrow, when Sturgeon will deliver her keynote address.

Here’s a video of Gregg Brain’s speech.

Here is more from Sky’s Faisal Islam on the SNP conference.

I’m afraid an analysis of John Swinney’s local government reform plans will have to wait, but the Scottish commentator Lesley Riddoch has written a short blog about them. Here’s an excerpt.

Creating a new tier of muscular town, island and village councils is radical. Creating more talking shops is not. We need real local councils not more centralisation or top-slicing existing council budgets to hand cash to un-elected head teachers. If SNP leadership doesnt realise it is seriously behind the curve on genuinely local democracy - and wastes the opportunity to do difficult structural reform at the start of a 5 year parliament - that failure will come back to bite the SNP just as “radical” land reform did last year.

The conference finished its proceedings for the day passing a resolution saying that current tax treaties with developing countries “operate to the severe disadvantage of many of the poorest countries in the world” and that they should be replaced with fair treaties.

Here is a picture of the Brain family on stage earlier. (See 3.06pm.)

Kathryn and Gregg Brain with their son Lachlan on stage at the SNP conference in Glasgow.
Kathryn and Gregg Brain with their son Lachlan on stage at the SNP conference in Glasgow. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

And here is Lachlan Brain with Nicola Sturgeon.

Lachlan Brain with Nicola Sturgeon.
Lachlan Brain with Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

The independence and Brexit motion (see 4.22pm) has been passed overwhelming. The attempt to shelve it (“remit back”) failed.

Sadly, this seems to be the best-read SNP conference story on our website at the moment.

But don’t worry, I won’t be deterred. I’ll be doing my best to sent the blog shooting up the ‘most read chart’ with an analysis of John Swinney’s local government reform plans ...

The SNP is strongly pro-EU, but one speaker has just admitted to voting leave. He says that he is available for BuzzFeed’s Jamie Ross, who has been on the quest for a Nat outer.

A speaker is now complaining that the wording of the motion is too tame. The motion says taking Scotland out of the EU against its will would be “unacceptable”. That is wrong, the speaker says; it would be “bloody outrageous”.

At another point the motion says conference expresses its “disappointment” about the Brexit vote. “God help us,” says the speaker.

He says the motion should be sent back for a re-write so some proper outrage gets included.

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, the SNP MP, is speaking now.

We don’t trust the Tory government to get the best deal [for Scotland on Brexit.] They don’t even trust each other.

The debate is not being interrupted by points of order. Two people who say they oppose the motion have complained about not being called.

As my colleague Libby Brooks points out, members take the proceedings here seriously.

Mike Russell, the Scottish government’s Brexit minister, is speaking now. He says Scotland will enter the Brexit talks as a nation. Scotland is a rational nation, and it will adopt a rational approach, he says.

He says Scotland will never accept the right of other people to speak on Scotland’s behalf.

Updated

Debate on independence and Brexit

SNP members are now debating a lengthy motion on independence and Brexit. It says that it would be “democratically unacceptable if Scotland were to be dragged out of Europe against its will” and that although “every avenue” must be explored to keep Scotland in the EU, ‘if no viable solution to safeguard our membership as part of the UK exists, Scotland should prepare for a second independence referendum and seek to remain in Europe as an independent country.”

The motion is being backed by SNP MPs and ministers in the Scottish parliament, but some speakers are opposing it on the grounds that it would remove the discretion Nicola Sturgeon has to pursue independence as she sees best. One member also pointed out that, although the motion talks about staying in the EU as a priority, Sturgeon redefined her goal yesterday, saying remaining in the single market is now the priority.

Updated

Swinney then moved on to the passage about devolving power. (See 1.44pm.)

And he finished by saying he would give improving education his “relentless focus”.

I believe the single best route out of poverty is education.

I believe the single most powerful weapon we have to fight poverty is education.

We will bring the whole education system together behind our purpose. The expansion of childcare to 30 hours per week. The focus of school education unreservedly on learning and teaching. The widening of access to university. The strengthening of apprenticeships. The linking of college to the world of work. All comes together in the same National Mission. To free every single child from the burden of poverty.

I will give it my relentless focus. I will not rest until we have delivered the best possible future for every young person in Scotland.

Swinney turns to Labour.

When Amber Rudd announced her sinister list of foreign workers,

Labour didn’t stand up in defiance.

Instead their press office said the Tories had not gone far enough.

Shame. Shame. Shame on the pathetic Labour Party.

Now, there will be a few in Labour as horrified as we are at their collective moral failure.

Kezia Dugdale tweeted “not in my name”.

But let’s be clear.

For as long as Kezia Dugdale insists on powers over immigration, Europe and all the rest remaining in London, Kezia shares the blame.

Swinney is referring to a press statement Labour put out criticising the fact that the government had not met the immigration targets it set itself.

Labour tweeted this.

Nicola Sturgeon tweeted this comment in response.

And Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, tweeted this.

Swinney announced a guarantee of student funding.

We have already confirmed tuition fee funding to support EU students studying here, or preparing to start this year.

Now, we will extend that guarantee to those starting next year in 2017/18.

And, unlike Labour and the Tories, that’s tuition-free education we are guaranteeing – not the massive fees they impose on students wherever they come from.

But let me go further.

We will guarantee their funding. But what I demand is that the Tory-Brexit government guarantee their right to stay here during the studies and work here after their studies.

They are not “cards” to be played.

They are human beings.

To use them as negotiating chips is obscene and we will have no part of it.

Updated

Swinney says May is 'in office but not in power'

Swinney says Theresa May is “in office but not in power”.

Theresa May is in office but it is already obvious that she is not in power.

A Remain voter – apparently – she is being driven by the Tory hard-right to a hard-Brexit just as David Cameron was driven to a referendum by those self-same hard-right Brexiteers in the first place.

The consequences can barely be contemplated.

He is echoing the phrase Norman Lamont used when he delivered a withering attack on the then prime minister, John Major, following his resignation as chancellor in 1993.

And he praises Nicola Sturgeon for her conduct on the morning after the EU referendum.

While Boris and Gove panicked, Cameron resigned and Corbyn went missing, it was Nicola Sturgeon who rejected the xenophobia of Farage, reassured our EU friends here in Scotland and defended our relationship with Europe.

In that moment, there was a crisis of leadership in London. Here in Scotland, leadership had its finest hour.

Swinney turns to Derek Mackay, his successor as finance secretary.

I have, of course, done that job. It’s not easy. It gets tougher as the times get tougher. But I know, Derek will do a fantastic job as finance secretary.

But I do have a word of warning for him.

I too was once a young looking finance minister, with a full head of hair.

So be warned. This is your future.

Swinney says for SNP ministers country comes before party. Country always comes first, he says.

This is from my colleague Libby Brooks.

Swinney says, while the Conservative conference was going on, and foreigners were being criticised, the Scots responded by taking to Twitter to celebrate the things they loved.

He says everyone who chooses to live in Scotland is part of Scotland.

John Swinney's speech

John Swinney, the deputy first minister, education secretary and former finance minister, is speaking now.

He says the party’s greatest strength is its roots.

We are not a branch office of a UK party. We are neither apologists for a UK government.

The SNP is rooted in all the communities of Scotland, he says.

One could be forgiven for feeling a wee bit uncertain about where exactly the SNP leadership stands vis-a-vis a second referendum after this morning’s round of interviews and fringe events suggesting that it is variously “highly likely”, “not inevitable” and not to be rushed.

Thankfully, the pro-independence think tank Business for Scotland is experiencing no such uncertainty, having just announced it’s move to a “referendum footing” following Sturgeon’s announcement yesterday of a draft Referendum Bill next week.

BfS announces that it has moved to larger premises in Glasgow (presumably not within the last 24 hours) and has already started hiring additional staff. Will keep you posted on who else has decided they’re on a referendum footing, as and when they declare themselves ...

Updated

Roseanna Cunningham, the cabinet secretary for the environment, climate change and land reform, has announced in her speech that the headquarters of the new Scottish Land Commission will be in Inverness.

The Scotsman has more on this.

Updated

Angela Constance, the Scottish social security secretary, announced in her speech that she would consult a panel of 2,000 welfare claimants about the operation of the welfare system in Scotland.

Michael Matheson, the Scottish justice secretary, announced a £665,000 grant for a service tackling violence against women and girls in his short conference speech.

At the conference a succession of Scottish ministers are now speaking.

Shona Robison, the health secretary, started by saying foreigner staff were very welcome in the NHS in Scotland.

She also announced £30m in funding over five years for Chas (Children’s Hospice Association Scotland).

Updated

Sturgeon floats prospect of Scots keeping EU citizenship under one possible Brexit compromise proposal

Sky’s Faisal Islam interviewed Nicola Sturgeon earlier. He has tweeted the key points.

  • Sturgeon floats prospect of Scots keeping EU citizenship under one possible compromise proposal to keep Scotland in single market.

This is true - although Ireland has been independent of the UK for almost a century.

Gregg Brain is speaking now. He is wearing a label with the letter F on it. He says it is his response to Amber Rudd, he says.

He says that he was not born in Scotland. But he got here as quickly as he could.

He thanks those who fought to help the Brain family get permission to stay, including Ian Blackford and Alex Salmond.

He says they invested £150,000 to come to Scotland. They lost about a year’s income because of the deportation threat, and they are in debt. He says they have a visa for a year now, but they don’t have long-term certainty. They don’t know what will happen after 2017. And they cannot get their son a pet because they don’t know if they will be allowed to stay permanently.

At the end he brings his wife and son onto the stage to be welcomed by Nicola Sturgeon.

Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, is now speaking about the Brains. The Brains are at the conference and he says the SNP are happy to have them here. But they are happy to have them as part of their society too.

He says he felt a personal responsibility to the Brains because they came to Scotland attracted by the Highland Homecoming initiative that he launched as first minster.

He says this is a tale of two governments.

The UK government says people who come to the country are a problem. We say they are an assets, he says.

They say foreign workers are a card to be played. We say they are people, he says.

They say firms who hire foreigners should be named and shamed. We say the shame is with people who want to treat foreigners like this, Salmond says.

He says the Tories want a “closed, intolerant backward-looking society.” Has their ever been a more intolerant vision offered to the people of this country.

He says Scottish heroes had foreign heritage. William Wallace was Welsh, he says. Robert the Bruce was Norman.

Salmond ends by saying this difference between Scotland and London underlines the case for independence.

An effigy of Alex Salmond at the SNP conference.
An effigy of Alex Salmond at the SNP conference. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

Updated

The SNP conference is now debating the treatment of the Brain family, the Australian family who were threatened with deportation when the UK government retrospectively changed visa rules.

Ian Blackford, the SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, says what happened to the Blacks should shame everyone in the country. He says at one point the Home Office wrote to him asking if he would help arrange their deportation. Anyone who understood Highland history would have realised that would never happen, he says. He says he told the Home Office to get lost.

He says that, after the Home Office withdrew the post-study work visa scheme (which meant the Brains faced deportation) and while the Brains were fighting their case, the Home Office brought it back for elite English universities.

He says this shows why Scotland needs control of immigration policy.

Gregg and Kathryn Brain with their son Lachlan at their home in Dingwall in the Highlands of Scotland.
Gregg and Kathryn Brain with their son Lachlan at their home in Dingwall in the Highlands of Scotland. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

The rural education motion went through. The attempt to shelve it (“remit back”) because of the line about staff shortages contributing to poor pupil attainment (see 2.24pm) failed.

In Glasgow the SNP conference is currently debating a motion on rural education. It says rural schools deserve extra support, although one speaker has objected to a line in the motion saying staff shortages in rural areas contribute to poor attainment levels on the grounds that this devalues the work of teachers who cope well with staff shortages.

This morning the conference pass a motion welcoming the introduction of a new Scottish government social security bill which will capitalise on the fact that power over 11 benefits - and 15% of the welfare budget - has now been devolved to Scotland. Sandra White MSP, convenor of the Scottish parliament’s social security committee, said:

The new social security powers that the Scottish government will get, allows us to build a much fairer, more dignified and respectful system and move away from the callous and demeaning service imposed by the Tories at Westminster.

Robertson says composition of cabinet's Brexit committee shows Scotland being sidelined

Politico Europe has published a story about the composition of the government’s Brexit cabinet committee. It says that half the posts have gone to what it describes as “hardline Eurosceptics” and that the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland secretaries do not have permanent seats on the committee. But they will attend “as required” by the prime minister.

Angus Robertson, the SNP’s leader at Westminster and the party’s newly-elected deputy leader, has put out a statement describing this as evidence that Scotland is being sidelined in the Brexit process. He said:

The revelation that the Scottish secretary is not a full member of Theresa May’s Brexit cabinet committee is deeply embarrassing for David Mundell [the Scottish secretary] – but more importantly it also seriously undermines Theresa May’s claim that Scotland will be fully involved in the Brexit negotiations.

The UK government is treating Scotland with contempt – but make no mistake, the SNP will ensure that Scotland’s voice is heard loudly and clearly in the Brexit process.

Angus Robertson.
Angus Robertson. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

At a fringe meeting at the SNP conference this morning Professor Anton Muscatelli, chair of first minister Nicola Sturgeon’s council of experts on Brexit, said that the UK could end up with a “hard” Brexit by accident.

Article 50 was not drawn up for it ever to be used. Now it’s being used, the UK government has to play an extraordinary weak hand, which doesn’t help.

You are seeing this in some of the discussions from the EU coming back saying ‘well you can’t access the single market without having the free movement of people’, and so on.

My concern is that the whole process could be not only complex but could actually lead to a really sub-optimal outcome. So hard Brexit might result almost by accident as well as by design, even if there might be the possibility of negotiations to be done.

He also said some of the current optimism around Brexit was misplaced.

I do think that some of the optimism around that the sky hasn’t fallen in is really misplaced and this is actually a really serious situation, and the problem is that given the nature of article 50 and the negotiations it’s actually going to be very difficult to pick our way through that.

Swinney to announce plans to devolve power

John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister and education secretary, is addressing the SNP conference this afternoon. In his speech, he is going to announce plans to transfer power to local communities.

Here is an extract from the speech released in advance.

The principle of local control, not on behalf of a community but by a community, is key. That is at the heart of our programme.

We have already launched the review of how the school education system is governed, setting ourselves the task of making parents and teachers the key decision makers in the life of our schools. Over the coming parliament we will go further. We will review the roles and responsibilities of local authorities. And we will look again at the relationships between local authorities and health boards.

We aim to achieve nothing less than to transform our democratic landscape, protect and renew public services and refresh the relationship between citizens, communities and councils.

We do this not because it is radical - and it is - but because we believe it is right. We do it not because it is easy - it’s not - but because it is in the national interest. We believe that national interest lies in placing power in the people of this country’s hands. It’s why I believe in independence.

Just as we believe the best people to decide the future of our country are the people who live in our country, so we believe the best people to decide the future of our communities are the people who live in those communities. We will trust the people to make the big decisions about their future. That is our creed. And that is the truly radical path.

No 10 suggests May would oppose a second independence referendum

I’m in Glasgow now at the SECC where the SNP conference is being held and will be up and running for the rest of the day. Apologies for the patchy coverage this morning.

Earlier Nicola Sturgeon said she thought it was “inconceivable” that Westminster would try to stop Scotland holding a second independence referendum. (See 9.18am.)

Downing Street has now made it clear that Theresa May actually views this as very conceivable. This is what the prime minister’s spokeswoman told journalists at the lobby briefing about the prospect of a second referendum.

There was a referendum in 2014 that addressed this issue that was legal and fair. The result was decisive and both parties agreed at the time to respect it.

It was a referendum with a clear question on the ballot paper and we should respect the democratic decision that was made, just as we respect the democratic decision that was made on the referendum on the EU.

[Scottish people] wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. We think we should respect that decision and work constructively on how all four nations of the UK can come together and work out the best deal for the United Kingdom when we leave the European Union.

It was a referendum that was once in a generation and it’s vital it should be respected.

May has also made clear in her own words (see 9.42am) her opposition to a second referendum. But she has not said explicitly that she would never allow a second referendum, and her spokeswoman did not say that this morning either.

Echoing Nicola Sturgeon’s caution on Today, where she insisted that she was “not rushing straight to a second referendum”, her cabinet secretary for the economy, Keith Brown, has just told a Brexit fringe meeting that “it is not the case that it is inevitable there will be another referendum, or inevitable that there will be independence”, adding that the Scottish government will “continue to look at what other options are available”.

The meeting was organised by Charlotte Street Partners, whose founding partner Andrew Wilson Sturgeon has just appointed to chair a new party growth commission, which will examine the prospects for Scotland’s finances as an independent country, and consider policies to both boost growth and reduce the deficit to a sustainable level.

Brown also told the meeting that he knew that some businesses which had been vehemently against independence in 2014 were now planning for a scenario where an independent Scotland had maintained some level of relationship with the EU. “That’s not to say that they are now pro-independence, but they are considering their business interests.”

Updated

Here is the Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan on Nicola Sturgeon’s Today interview.

I’m now getting on a plane, and so this blog will be on hold until lunchtime, I’m afraid. But I will be blogging from the conference this afternoon, and covering the debate about independence, among other things.

In her Today interview (see 9.18am) Nicola Sturgeon said it was “inconceivable” that Westminster would stop Scotland holding a second independence referendum and that she had not heard Theresa May say she would block such a referendum. (Whether to hold a legal referendum is a matter for London, not Edinburgh. David Cameron passed special legislation to allow the 2014 referendum to take place.)

But May has hinted that she would oppose a second referendum. This is what she told the Conservative conference in Birmingham.

I will never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious Union between the four nations of our United Kingdom.

Sturgeon's Today interview - Summary

Here are the key points from Nicola Sturgeon’s Today interview. She wants Scotland to stay in the single market, even if the rest of the UK leaves as a result of Brexit, and although she reaffirmed that she believes this might result in Scotland having to hold a second independence referendum, she also spoke at some length about alternative options.

  • Sturgeon said she wanted to explore “creative” solutions that might allow Scotland to stay in the single market, even if the rest of the UK leaves. She said she would be publishing detailed proposals soon. There were various options, she suggested.

The point I would make, and it’s quite a fundamental point, is we are in unchartered territory here. Article 50 is the only rule that exists for what happens now. No country was every expected to ever want to leave the EU. So to some extent the UK as a whole is sitting with a blank sheet of paper. There is an ability to be creative, and to look at different options that respect how different parts of the UK voted. I think there are ways in which that can be done.

I don’t pretend, and I have never since the referendum pretended, that it will be straightforward or without challenges. And maybe we will find that none of these ways are possible, and that independence is the only option for Scotland to pursue. But we will try very hard to put other options on the table.

Sturgeon did not give details about what these options might be. But she played down the suggestion that she might want to see a customs border go up between England and Scotland. She said the UK government was opposed to having a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and so she did not see the case for erecting one between England and Scotland. She also hinted that Iceland might be a possible model.

There are options - for example the kind of option that Norway has. I was in Iceland at the weekend - [the option] that Iceland has of being in the single market but not in the European Union.

Is that as good as full EU membership? In my view, no it’s not. One of the downsides of it is that you have to abide by the rules without influencing the rules - but is it better than being outside the single market completely. Emphatically yes.

  • She said she wanted to keep Scotland in the single market. If it was not in the single market, there would be barriers to trade, she said, and that would be bad for the economy.
  • She said the debate about independence had changed since 2014 because Brexit had changed the balance of economic risk.

The UK we voted to stay part of in 2014 is not the UK we now face the prospect of.

Sturgeon said she accepted that the fall in the oil price created difficult questions for those backing Scottish independence. But she went on:

I absolutely accept that if Scotland is in another independence debate then there will be hard economic questions that will be asked that I and those advocating independence have a responsibility to answer.

But this debate has changed since 2014. In 2014 those who argued against independence said it was about the economic certainty and stabililty of the UK versus the uncertainty of independence.

What we have now in the UK, particularly if it comes out of the single market, is instability and uncertainty and lost economic growth. So this would be a debate about what gives Scotland the best prospect, not of having a magic wand about its economy, but of building the best economic future.

  • She said the UK’s budget deficit was likely to get worse because of Brexit.

I think it is very likely that the UK deficit is going to deteriorate because of the economic implications of Brexit.

  • She played down the fact that polls indicate a majority of Scots oppose independence. She said that when the last independence campaign started only 30% of Scots favoured independence, but the yes side eventually got 45% of the vote, she said.
  • She claimed it was “inconceivable” that Westminster would try to stop Scotland holding a second independence referendum if it wanted to have one. She said she had not heard Theresa May or anyone else in Westminster say they would stop Edinburgh holding a second independence referendum.

Updated

I will post a summary of Sturgeon’s Today interview soon.

Here are some of the lines from some of the other interviews she has given this morning. These are from Peter Murrell, the SNP chief executive, Fergus Mutch, an SNP communications chief and Elizabeth Lloyd, Sturgeon’s chief of staff.

Sturgeon says the Scottish health service is performing better in Scotland than in the rest of the UK.

And she says her speech tomorrow will spell out what the Scottish government will do to improve education.

She challenges the BBC to report her domestic policies in full. Sarah Montague, who is presenting, says the Today programme will be broadcast from Glasgow tomorrow.

Q: You would need Westminster approval to hold another referendum.

Sturgeon says she has not heard anyone say Scotland would not be able to hold a referendum. She finds it “inconceivable” that Westminster would try to stop Scotland holding a referendum.

Q: You are making a threat.

Sturgeon says she does not see it like that. Threat is a pejorative word. She is being straight.

Q: How could Scotland stay in the single market if the rest of the UK left. Wouldn’t you have to have customs checks at the border.

Sturgeon says, since the government does not want a hard border in Ireland, it would be odd if it wanted one between Scotland and England.

She is going to publish a range of options. She wants to be “creative”.

But it may be necessary to move to independence if those other options do not work, she says.

Q: Hasn’t the collapse in the oil price made independence much harder?

Sturgeon says she accepts there will be hard questions to answer.

But the debate has changed, she says.

In 2014 people argued staying in the UK offered economic stability and certainty.

Now, with Brexit, that is not the case.

Q: Scotland would have a bigger deficit than Greece.

Sturgeon says this is about deciding how Scotland can best tackle its deficit.

And Brexit could increase the size of the UK deficit, she says.

Nicola Sturgeon is on the Today programme now.

She says she wants Scotland to stay in the single market, and in the EU.

Theresa May has no mandate to take the UK out of the single market, she says.

Q: What if there were a deal with a considerable amount of trade, but some limitations.

Sturgeon says she wants Scotland to stay in the single market. If it is not in the single market, there will be barriers to trade, she says.

She says she will put forward proposals.

But if all that fails, Scotland has the right to ask people again if they want to leave the EU.

The UK that Scotland voted to stay in has changed.

Q: Polls suggest that people would still vote to stay in the UK.

Sturgeon says a poll yesterday showed 55% of Scots would want a second referendum if there were a hard Brexit.

Q: But the polls still show there is not a majority for independence.

Sturgeon says at the start of the last campaign only 30% of people wanted independence. That went up.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister and SNP leader, is doing a round of interviews this morning. The SNP conference is taking place in Glasgow and Sturgeon has been answering questions about the speech she gave yesterday. Her main speech to the conference will take place tomorrow afternoon but, just as Theresa May chose to give two speeches to her party conference, a Brexit one at the start and a domestic policy one at the end, Sturgeon opened the conference yesterday with a speech about Brexit and Scottish independence.

Here is the Guardian’s story about it by Severin Carrell.

And here is how it starts.

Nicola Sturgeon warned that she was prepared to stage a second Scottish independence referendum before the UK quits the European Union as she attacked the Tories for their “xenophobic” rhetoric on the EU.

In a clear challenge to Theresa May’s government in London, the first minister told the Scottish National party conference in Glasgow she would unveil draft legislation next week to prepare for a rerun of the 2014 referendum within the next two years.

Sturgeon said the UK government’s recent rhetoric on capping immigration and on quitting the EU single market made it clear that the Tory party had been taken over by its “rampant and xenophobic” right wing. To applause from delegates, Sturgeon singled out the prime minister and declared: “Hear this: if you think for one single second that I’m not serious about doing what it takes to protect Scotland’s interests, then think again.”

Her official spokesman cautioned that this was designed to give the Scottish government the full range of options. Sturgeon had a dual-track strategy and her immediate goal was to get the strongest powers possible for Holyrood in the Brexit deal.

Sturgeon will be on the Today programme at 8.10, and I will be covering her interview live.

Sturgeon has already been on BBC Breakfast. She told the programme that the rhetoric from the Conservative conference was “xenophobic”. This is from Peter Murrell, the SNP’s chief executive (and Sturgeon’s husband).

Later I will be reporting from the conference in Glasgow. But there is a slight hitch. I missed a flight and so I’m still stuck at Gatwick airport. I will be covering the conference proceedings in full this afternoon, when members will debate a resolution about whether Scotland should prepare for a second independence referendum “if no viable solution to safeguard our membership [of the EU] as part of the UK exists”, and I will be covering more conference news for the next hour or so, but the blog may have to hibernate mid-morning.

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

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

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