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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

SNP conference: Nicola Sturgeon's speech - Politics live

Nicola Sturgeon’s keynote speech at SNP conference

This, from ID7748821 in the comments BTL, is very interesting.

User avatar for ID7748821

After Thursday, that seemed like a bit of an anti-climax. Nicola Sturgeon’s end of conference speech is supposed to be her most important of the week, but south of the border her speech on Thursday threatening a second independence referendum if Scotland gets forced out of the single market is the one that people will remember from this week. It may well be that in Scotland it is the one that resonates too.

Hello, Andrew. Firstly, thanks very much for your coverage. I think we've now hit a point where the reactions need to be divided into 'domestic' and 'UK' reactions. In Scotland, the speech on Thursday was just a clear statement of what we already knew: there was a bit more detail but no change in Scottish govt policy since the morning after the Brexit vote. But in London you haven't been following that debate, so it was big news to you.

For Scottish people the use of the word 'home rule' today was an intriguing straw in the wind, to me at least way more interesting than Thursday's announcements. That's parking the SNP's tanks on Labour's lawn and claiming to be the heirs of devolution, while merging the notions of indy /FFA / devolution. And for us, hospitals and the care system aren't boring compared to the indy/not-indy debate: it's what governments (and nations) are for. The chance to pursue more inclusive, i.e. non-Tory, policies is the reason why people actually want independence or home rule in the first place.

FFA is full fiscal autonomy.

There were two references to home rule in the speech. This one:

Of course, I know there is still much to do.

Much to do in the next phase of Scotland’s home rule journey.

And this one.

Our home rule journey has given us new confidence.

That is all from me for tonight.

Thanks for your comments.

Gavin Kelly, chief executive of the Resolution Trust and a deputy chief of staff to Gordon Brown in Downing Street, also thinks Nicola Sturgeon has discovered her inner Blairite.

Sturgeon's speech - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

And this is what political journalists and commentators are saying about Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.

The reaction suggests that some of those who on Thursday were sceptical about whether Nicola Sturgeon would in the end use Brexit as an excuse to trigger a second independence referendum may be less sceptical about her intentions now.

From the Times’ Kenny Farquharson

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, has retweeted this post (above).

From the Herald’s Iain Macwhirter

From the Spectator’s Alex Massie

From the Guardian’s Libby Brooks

From Sceptical Scot’s David Gow

From the Economist’s Jeremy Cliffe

From Sky’s Faisal Islam

From Bloomberg’s Robert Hutton

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

This is from the BBC’s Philip Sim.

Here is Anas Sarwar, Labour’s health spokesman in Scotland, on Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.

New funding is welcome, but this is the SNP reversing their own cuts to the budgets of family doctors, having slashed a massive £1.6bn in the past decade.

The test will not just be the money spent, it will be number of new GP recruited, GPs retained, saving local practices from closures and more auxiliary support services.

The SNP need to outline where this money is coming from - will it mean further cuts to acute services the SNP told us were safe?

Here is Gordon Hector, head of research for the Scottish Conservatives, on Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.

And this is from Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader.

Here is Iain Gray, Labour’s education spokesman in Scotland, responding to Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.

Labour has led the debate around improving support for looked after children for years, and a review of the entire system is one we welcome. The truth is that looked after children are Scotland’s children, the state is the parent and we pay the bills.

We would ask the first minister to go a step further and put improving outcomes for looked after children at the heart of the country’s attainment strategy. That is why Labour said it should be considered in school inspections.

Labour will await further detail on the childcare announcement. We welcome any move towards a system that is more flexible, because for too long policy has been written to fit on election leaflets rather than around the lives of working families. However for it to be delivered properly, it needs to be funded properly.

Nicola Sturgeon’s speech ignored the huge cuts public services in Scotland are facing; cuts that will hold back ambitions and opportunities for our young people. She should work with Labour to stop the cuts.

Labour would amend the Scottish budget with a 50p top rate of tax and a penny for public services. Nicola Sturgeon faces a choice: she can work with Labour to stop the cuts and invest in public services, or she can continue to accept Tory budgets from Westminster.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon's speech - Snap verdict and summary

After Thursday, that seemed like a bit of an anti-climax. Nicola Sturgeon’s end of conference speech is supposed to be her most important of the week, but south of the border her speech on Thursday threatening a second independence referendum if Scotland gets forced out of the single market is the one that people will remember from this week. It may well be that in Scotland it is the one that resonates most too.

After more than nine years in office in Scotland it is getting harder (although by no means impossible, given the limits on the Scottish parliament’s power) for the SNP to explain away poor public services, and there was evidence of that today, in Derek Mackay’s Today interview (see 10.42am) and the reception John Swinney got at an education fringe (see 1.50pm). And you could detect some evidence of this too in Sturgeon’s speech, which was notably free of boasting. Instead it was pragmatic and workmanlike (and probably all the better for that).

At the heart of the speech was a series of solid, but mainstream and detail-light policies. The best passage came when Sturgeon was talking about failings in the care service, and the need for children to be loved. (‘My view is simple: every young person deserves to be loved.”) She tied this in well with her theme of “inclusion”, although a lot of her comments on children in care could have come straight from a speech by David Cameron on life chances. The announcement on NHS funding raised the question of what hospital units might have be to be cut as part of this reconfiguration. And, for someone from England, the announcement on childcare was interesting because of the tacit admission that choice at present is not a strong feature of Scottish childcare provision. Championing choice as she did sounded a bit Blairite, although of course Sturgeon would be horrified if anyone saw it like that.

Here are the main points from the speech.

  • Sturgeon announced plans to extend the small business bonus, so that from April an extra 100,000 business premises do not pay business rates. (See 3.38pm.)
  • She announced a reform of the way childcare services are provided, with an emphasis on giving parents more choice. (See 3.43pm.)
  • She announced an independent and far-reaching review of the care system. (See 3.49pm.)
  • She announced an extra £500m for primary care by 2021. This will happen because the proportion of health spending going on primary care will be increased, up to 11%. At this point it is not clear what this might mean for hospital budgets. (See 3.53pm.)
  • She announced that the SNP’s baby box initiative will start being rolled out next year, with the whole country covered by next summer. (See 3.45pm.)

I will post some reaction soon.

Updated

It was this tweet, from Theo Bertram, a former adviser to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, that I was reminded of early when Nicola Sturgeon spoke about Syria in her speech. (See 3.26pm.)

UPDATE: Bertram is almost right. There was no reference to Syria or Aleppo in Theresa May’s speech, but there was a brief mention of Syria in Jeremy Corbyn’s.

Updated

That’s it. The speech is over.

I will post a summary and snap verdict soon.

Sturgeon is now on her peroration.

We have already come so far.

Our home rule journey has given us new confidence.

New self-belief.

A determination not to be taken backwards, but to finish building tomorrow’s Scotland.

Friends,

The time is coming to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.

Let’s get on with making that case.

Let’s get on with building the country we know Scotland can be.

Sturgeon is now rehearsing a key argument she could use to justify a second independence referendum.

Let us be clear about this too.

If that moment does arise, it will not be because the 2014 result hasn’t been respected.

It will be because the promises made to Scotland in 2014 have been broken.

Sturgeon reaffirms the case for independence.

And make no mistake - it is the opponents of independence, those on the right of the Tory party, intent on a hard Brexit, who have caused the insecurity and uncertainty.

So it falls to us, the advocates of independence, to offer solutions to the problems they have created.

Of course independence would bring its own challenges - that is true for every independent nation on earth.

But with independence, the solutions will lie in our own hands.

And she repeats the point she made in her speech on Thursday.

We will work with others across the political divide to try to save the UK as a whole from the fate of a hard Brexit.

We will propose new powers to help keep Scotland in the single market even if the UK leaves.

But if the Tory government rejects these efforts -

If it insists on taking Scotland down a path that hurts our economy, costs jobs, lowers our living standards and damages our reputation as an open, welcoming, diverse country -

Then be in no doubt.

Scotland must have the ability to choose a better future.

And I will make sure that Scotland gets that chance.

Sturgeon says it is 30 years since she joined the SNP.

In all those 30 years, I have never doubted that Scotland will one day become an independent country.

And I believe it today more strongly than I ever have before.

But I’ve always known that it will happen only when a majority of our fellow citizens believe that becoming independent is the best way to build a better future, together.

So we need to understand why, in 2014, that wasn’t the case.

Some who voted No believed that staying in the UK offered greater economic security, a stronger voice in the world and a guaranteed place in the EU.

Back then it even seemed possible that there might be a Westminster Labour government at some point in the next 20 years!

But the future looks very different today.

Sturgeon says the SNP should lead the way in insisting on respect for others’ views.

Let’s build on that common ground.

Let’s decide that whatever decisions we face in the years ahead, we will take them together - respecting each other every step of the way.

And let us in the SNP lead by example.

Sturgeon says it is important to understand each other’s point of view.

So whatever our disagreements, let us always treat each other with respect.

And let’s work harder to understand each other’s point of view.

You know, in a strange sort of way, the events of the last few months might help us do just that.

I know how upset I was on the morning of 24 June as I came to terms with the result of the EU referendum. I felt as if part of my identity was being taken away.

And I don’t mind admitting that it gave me a new insight into how those who voted No might have felt if 2014 had gone the other way.

Likewise, there are many No voters now looking at the Brexit vote with real dismay and wondering if independence might be the best option for Scotland after all.

Sturgeon says there is more that unites the Scots than divides them.

So as we prepare to take the next steps in our nation’s journey - whatever they might be - let us always remember this.

There is more - much more - that unites us as a country than will ever divide us.

Updated

Sturgeon promises an extra £500m for primary care by 2021

Sturgeon commits government to increasing funding for primary care.

The NHS of the future must be built on a real shift from acute care to primary and community care.

So the commitment I am announcing today is a landmark one.

By the end of this parliament, we will increase spending on primary care services to 11% of the frontline NHS budget.

That’s what doctors have said is needed.

And it is what we will deliver.

And let me be clear what that means. By 2021, an extra half billion pounds will be invested in our GP practices and health centres.

And it means, for the first time ever, that half of the health budget will be spent, not in acute hospitals, but in the community - delivering primary, community and social care.

Sturgeon praises NHS staff “no matter where they were born”.

And she says the NHS must reform.

Over this parliament, we will increase health spending by almost £2 billion.

That’s a necessary commitment but it is not sufficient.

To make our NHS fit for the future we must reform as well as invest.

That will involve tough decisions - but the challenge of an ageing population demands it.

It’s why our government has integrated health and social care - a challenge ducked by every single administration before us.

And it’s why we are expanding standalone elective capacity through five new treatment centres.

Sturgeon gives more details of her care review.

You know, the young people who speak to me make a simple but powerful point.

They say the system feels like it is designed only to stop things happening.

And, of course, it must have safeguards and protections.

But children don’t need a system that just stops things happening to them - they need one that makes things happen for them.

A system that supports them to become the people they can be. One that gives them a sense of family. Of belonging. Of love.

My view is simple: every young person deserves to be loved.

So let’s come together and make this commitment: to love our most vulnerable children and give them the childhood they deserve.

That’s what inclusion means in practice.

Sturgeon announces thorough review of care system

Sturgeon says she will review the care system.

Recently, I’ve been spending some time with young people who have grown up in care.

Some of them are here today.

We welcome them to our conference.

Their stories have moved me deeply.

These young people have challenged me to accept Who Cares? Scotland’s pledge to listen to 1000 care experienced young people over the next two years.

And then to use what they tell me to help make their lives better.

I’ve accepted that challenge ...

But we can’t ignore the reality for too many children in care.

Only six per cent go to university.

Nearly half will suffer mental health issues.

Half of the adult prison population are people who lived in care when they were growing up.

And worst of all - and this breaks my heart - a young person who has been in care is twenty times - twenty times - more likely to be dead by the time they are 25 than a young person who hasn’t.

Conference,

This simply has to change.

And I am determined that it will change.

So, I am going to do what these young people have asked me to do.

I am announcing today that we will launch an independent, root and branch review of the care system.

Sturgeon turns to the attainment gap. (See 10.42am.)

In our schools, raising the bar for all and closing the attainment gap - opening up opportunity for every child – is the number one priority of my government.

It is my personal defining mission.

That’s why we are directing more funding to areas of greatest need.

It’s why we’ve announced our intention to reform school governance - to put parents, head-teachers and classroom teachers at the centre of decisions about children’s learning.

It’s why are working with teachers to reduce workload.

And it’s why we are bringing greater transparency to school performance - so that we can measure the attainment gap accurately and set clear targets to close it.

But if we are to live up to our ambition we have a very particular duty to those most in need.

We have to get it right for every child.

Sturgeon says the baby box initiative will be launched next year

Sturgeon says the baby box initiative will be launched next year.

In the election, we promised a Baby Box of essential items for all newborns. It’s a policy borrowed from Finland – where it has contributed to one of the lowest levels of child mortality in the world.

So, I am delighted to give you an update on our plans to introduce it here.

Next month, we’ll launch a competition - in partnership with the V&A in Dundee - for the design of the box.

The first boxes will be delivered to babies born in pilot areas on New Year’s Day.

Now, I don’t know about you, but as a first foot offering, I think that beats a lump of coal!

And, then next summer, every new born baby across the country will receive a baby box full of clothes, nappies, bedding, books and toiletries.
Friends,
The baby box is a powerful symbol of our belief that all children should start life on a level playing field.
That’s what inclusion means in practice.

Updated

Sturgeon gives more details of her childcare plans.

First, we will propose that parents can choose a nursery or childminder that best suits their needs and - as long as the provider meets agreed standards - ask the local authority to fund it.

In other words, the funding will follow the child - not the other way round.

Second, as suggested by Children in Scotland’s Childcare Commission we will propose that parents can opt to receive funding in a childcare account and then use it to purchase a suitable place directly.

Quality, choice, flexibility - these will be the watchwords of a policy to transform the working lives of families and the life chances of our children.

And I’m proud that it’s an SNP government that will deliver it.

Sturgeon announces plans to reform childcare provision

Sturgeon announces a plan to reform childcare provision.

The most important infrastructure investment of the next few years will be different. It will be childcare.

Over this parliament, we will double the amount of state funded early years education and childcare for all 3 and 4 year olds and for the most disadvantaged 2 year olds.

Not a bridge over a river.

But a bridge to a better future for our children.

And today I can announce a new phase in this childcare revolution.

Just now it is local authorities who decide what childcare places are offered to parents.

Councils work hard to be flexible - but often the places offered to parents are not where and when they need them.

So today we are launching a national parent consultation on how to do things differently.

It proposes radical new approaches prioritising choice and flexibility.

Sturgeon turns to infrastructure.

Inclusive economic growth underpins our entire economic strategy.

The Queensferry Crossing - our new bridge across the Forth - has been our country’s most important infrastructure project in a generation.

In fact, this week, it entered the Guinness Book of Records.

The central tower of the bridge is the biggest freestanding structure of its kind anywhere in the world.

What an amazing feat of engineering.

Sturgeon says the number of living wage employers is being extended.

There are currently over 600 accredited living wage employers in Scotland.

By this time next year, that number will rise to at least 1000.

And she announces the measures to boost trade links abroad, briefed overnight. See 9.04am.

Sturgeon announces plan to extend small business bonus

Sturgeon announces plans to extend a scheme exempting some firms from business rates.

We will not just intervene to save jobs. We will also provide help and support for businesses to thrive.

I can confirm today that our small business bonus will be extended.

From April 1 next year, 100,000 business premises across Scotland will pay no business rates at all.

Absolutely none.

Our new half billion pound Growth Scheme will offer guarantees and loans to companies seeking to export, expand and create new jobs.

And we’ll make sure that the benefits of growth are shared more widely.

Sturgeon says growing the economy is vital.

But more than ever before, the new Scotland Act means the growth of Scotland’s budget depends on the growth of Scotland’s economy.

Creating jobs, expanding the economy and growing tax revenues - these priorities must be at the centre of everything we do.

And they always will be.

Sturgeon says her government has made good progress.

Earlier, this week a major European research study reached this conclusion.

On health, on education, on tolerance and on the environment - out of all of the four nations in the UK, Scotland is top.

Sturgeon explains her line about inclusion.

Inclusion is the guiding principle for everything we do.

It encapsulates what we stand for as a party and it describes the kind of country we want Scotland to be.

An inclusive country.

A country where everyone has the opportunity to contribute to a better future and to share in the benefits of that better future.

A country which works for those who value the security they currently have and for those who yearn for change.

A country where we value people for the contribution they make.

Sturgeon turns to policy.

If you remember just one word from my speech today, I want it to be this one.

It begins with an ‘I’.

No, not that one! Not yet.

The word I want you to remember is this - inclusion.

Sturgeon says the SNP are providing the only real opposition at Westminster

Sturgeon says the SNP are providing the only real opposition at Westminster.

At Westminster, we will continue to provide the strong opposition that Labour is failing to deliver.

In recent months, it hasn’t been Labour asking the hard questions about our place in the single market and the jobs that depend on it - it’s been our Westminster leader, our new deputy leader, Angus Robertson.

Just as it’s been Alison Thewliss making the case against the immorality of denying tax credits to women unless they can prove they’ve been raped.

And Ian Blackford, standing against the deportation of the Brain family.

Or Mhairi Black standing up for women denied the pension entitlements they saved for all their working lives.

The SNP isn’t just the real opposition to the Tories at Westminster.

The SNP is the only effective opposition to the Tories at Westminster.

Sturgeon turns to Labour

And what of Labour?

Delegates laugh. She say that was not meant to be a joke.

Well, so lost have they become that they prefer the prospect of years of continuous Tory government at Westminster to self-government for Scotland.

It is inexplicable, I know - but I guess branch offices just don’t have all that much in the way of ambition.

Sturgeon condemns the Tories' 'ingrained hostility to immigration'

Sturgeon condemns the Tory approach to immigration.

Today’s Tories display an ingrained hostility to immigration and offer a stony heart to refugees.

They treat those with disabilities with suspicion.

People seeking support to get back into employment are humiliated and harassed.

A mother unable to find the bus fare to get to a job centre appointment is more likely to face a benefit sanction than she is to be offered a helping hand.

And those from other European countries who have chosen to make their homes here - human beings with lives, jobs and families - they are treated as no more than bargaining chips.

Conference,

The Prime Minister’s position on EU nationals shames her and it will be a stain on her government each and every day that it is allowed to continue.

The fact is, with almost every action the Tories take, somebody is excluded. Somebody loses out. Somebody is left behind.

So let us make it clear.

That is not our way.

It is not who we are.

And it is not who we aspire to be.

Sturgeon says Tories are now indistinguishable from Ukip

Sturgeon quotes the passaged released overnight about how the battle of ideas is now between the SNP and the hard-right Tories. (See 9.58am.)

The Cameroons have fallen to the Faragistas - and let’s face it, the Cameroons were never very appealing in the first place.

Conference,

The SNP’s vision for Scotland is welcoming, progressive, open, outward looking, and inclusive.

The Tory vision?

Xenophobic, closed, inward looking, discriminatory.

Let’s be frank, the Tories are no longer the Conservative and Unionist Party.

After last week, we should call them what they are:

The Conservative and Separatist Party.

Or Ukip for short.

Sturgeon says Syrian refugees are welcome in Scotland.

Last month the 1,000th Syrian refugee was welcomed to Scotland.

And they are welcome.

But we can and we must do more - especially for children, alone without their parents.

So, I say to the UK Government today – stop treating this as a migration issue.

It is a humanitarian crisis.

Sturgeon turns to Syria.

In the conflicts facing the world today, nuclear weapons are not the answer.

In Syria, up to 400,000 men, women and children have been killed since the conflict started.

Over a million have been wounded.

No-one can fail to be profoundly moved, and deeply angered, by the appalling scenes we are witnessing in Aleppo.

Innocent children are being killed and wounded with impunity.

The barbarism of the Assad regime and the actions of Russia are sickening.

We condemn them unreservedly.

NOTE: I’m wondering if Sturgeon read the same tweet that I did from someone saying how strange it was that neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Theresa May addressed Aleppo in their conference speeches.

Sturgeon reaffirms the SNP's opposition to Trident

Sturgeon says the SNP and Labour differ over Trident.

It’s not just attitude which distinguishes the SNP from Labour.

It’s policy and principle too.

When Labour held its conference in Liverpool recently its defence spokesman wanted to announce support for the renewal of Trident.

He was enraged at not being allowed to go as far as he wanted in supporting weapons of mass destruction.

Well, we’re pretty angry too.

We’re angry that with so many children still living in poverty, we have a Tory government determined to waste tens of billions of pounds on a new generation of nuclear weapons

And we’re angry at Labour for meekly falling into line behind the Tories

Friends, I promise you this -

No-one will ever have to slip a note to politicians in this party reminding us to oppose Trident

Now and always with the SNP: it is no to Trident.

Sturgeon says Labour became “arrogant on power”.

So our promise - to Glasgow and to all the people of Scotland - is this:

We will never take you for granted.

We will work each and every day to earn and re-earn your trust.

Sturgeon talks about how the SNP is winning power in Glasgow.

In 1985 every constituency in this city, bar one, was held by Labour.

Today, the political landscape is very different.

Last year, every Westminster constituency in this city was won by the SNP.

This year, every Holyrood constituency voted SNP as well.

And just last week, in a council by-election, a massive 19% swing to the SNP secured victory for our brilliant candidate, Chris Cunningham.

In 2017 the SNP can complete this transformation by winning the council elections in Glasgow, she says. (The council is still Labour.)

Let’s work as hard as we ever have to bring the SNP to power.

And then let’s build this city as one of the very best in Europe.

Sturgeon turns to how much Scotland has changed.

The SECC - where we meet today - was first opened back in 1985.

It has witnessed quite a few changes in the 30 years since.

The biggest change of all has been in the politics of our country and of this city.

In 1985, a Scottish Parliament seemed like a pipe dream.

Today, it is the beating heart of our democracy.

We no longer question if we should have a parliament of our own.

Instead, we ask if our parliament should be independent.

We say yes.

Nicola Sturgeon says the SNP is meeting five months on from the Scottish parliament election.

It won a third term.

She thanks the people of the country “from the bottom of my heart”.

Nicola Sturgeon's speech

Angus Robertson, the new deputy leader (or depute leader, as the SNP call the post), is introducing Nicola Sturgeon.

He says she is a fantastic first minister.

The conference is now hearing from Aamer Anwar, the lawyer who represented the family of the murdered Sikh waiter Surjit Singh Chhokar. He says SNP MSPs consistently supporter the family during their 17-year fight for justice.

This is from Michael Matheson, the Scottish justice secretary.

Nicola Sturgeon will be starting her speech in about 15 minutes.

The results of a set of internal elections have just been announced. Mhairi Black, the 22-year-old SNP, has been elected to the party’s national executive committee.

This is from the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush.

This is from the BBC’s Philip Sim.

Updated

SNP delegates have passed a resolution says the current rule saying gay men have to abstain from sex for a year before they can give blood. It said the rule should be replaced with one based on individual assessments of risk.

An independence supporter at the conference bedecked with pro-independence badges.
An independence supporter at the conference bedecked with pro-independence badges. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

The SNP conference has just passed a resolution saying that the EU’s common fisheries policy is “deeply flawed and does not support a sustainable fishing industry in Scotland”.

Outside the conference centre independence supporters have been holding a rally. Here are some pictures.

Independence supporters hold a rally outside the Scottish National party conference.
Independence supporters hold a rally outside the Scottish National party conference. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Independence supporters outside the conference centre.
Independence supporters outside the conference centre. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Independence supporters outside the conference centre.
Independence supporters outside the conference centre. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
Independence supporters outside the conference centre.
Independence supporters outside the conference centre. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
An independence supporter at the rally outside the conference centre.
An independence supporter at the rally outside the conference centre. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
An independence supporter.
An independence supporter. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
Independence campaigners outside the conference centre.
Independence campaigners outside the conference centre. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Memorabilia is on sale at a stand at the Scottish National party conference in Glasgow.
Memorabilia is on sale at a stand at the Scottish National party conference in Glasgow. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

The commentator James McEnaney has written an interesting blog on the charitable status for state schools proposal. (See 11.26am and 2.02pm.) He thinks it’s a flawed idea. Here’s an excerpt.

First of all, the taxation burden referred to in the motion is a matter for local authorities, not individual schools, with councils paying business rates on all schools under their control. Charitable status would therefore represent a significant saving for local authorities which could certainly free up more money for education spending. So far so good.

The trouble is that business rates are paid to the Scottish Government which also provides the vast majority of councils’ cash. Charitable status for around 100 private schools costs the Scottish government about £10m a year, so imagine the figure for 2500 state schools.

If the government could promise not to claw back this money by reducing education funding then that would be one thing, but the money will surely have to come from somewhere.

Furthermore, if the government is indeed willing to finance a significant increase in education spending — such as would be achieved by non-domestic rates exemptions — then why not simply hand over the money right now?

Here is more on the debate earlier on the vote to give charitable status to state schools in Scotland. (See 11.26am.)

Speaking in favour of the resolution Graham Sutherland, a delegate, said:

Many of the wealthiest people in society decide to opt out of state education. By educating their children at private schools they benefit from about £90m of tax breaks annually.

Effectively we have a situation just now where the state subsidises educational segregation and class privilege. The system as it stands also perpetuates educational inequality and that has a knock on effect on child poverty.

He highlighted the case of Fettes College, where fees are around £24,000 a year, which he said benefited from an 80% reduction in non-domestic rates while providing bursaries for 2% of pupils.

The system at the moment means that elitist private schools which serve the rich, the privileged and those that are already advantaged in life’s race enjoy charitable status while state schools serving the wider population, which undoubtedly provide a public benefit, do not.

It is time for state schools to be treated equally with private schools. It is time for our hard-pressed state schools to have this glaring anomaly removed, it’s time for a level playing field for Scotland’s children.

Several delegates said it would be better just to remove charitable status from schools. One of them, Peter Henderson, said:

We’re going about this the wrong way round. Remove charitable status for private schools to level the playing field. It’s as simple as that.

But Sutherland revealed that his branch of Newington and Southside had twice put forward a draft resolution calling for the removal of charitable status for private schools but it had not got through the SNP’s standing orders and agenda committee.

Sutherland also said the Scottish government has rejected removing charitable status from private schools. He said:

A couple of years ago a young lady through the petitions mechanisms through the Scottish parliament lobbied the Scottish government and the Scottish parliament to have charitable status removed.

It was rejected because our Scottish government said there was insufficient evidence for a review of the charitable legislation relating to private schools. I think that’s a disgrace.

I’ve taken the quotes from the Press Association.

Fascinating snapshot at a fringe event with Scotland’s largest teaching union The Educational Institute of Scotland and the new (since May) education secretary John Swinney.

Swinney takes the role fresh from his much-praised role negotiating the Scotland Act’s fiscal framework with the UK Treasury.

But he was brought up short by a nursery headteacher from Glasgow’s south side, who challenged him on the shocking lack of early years teachers and lack of funding to improve the situation.

Swinney reacted unnaturally nippily, saying that these decisions were the fault of local authorities and the reason he was undertaking his current governance review was because he was sick of being challenged about decisions by local government that he didn’t feel able to defend.

Then why did you change the legislation? asked the nursery head. It wasn’t us, it was the last Labour government! Swinney replied. Then why haven’t you reinstated it, you’ve had nearly ten years! Swinney blustered.

It was a perfect example of the struggle Swinney faces in this role and also an object lesson in not rushing to blame local authorities, whose budgets are currently being slashed by the Scottish government (again, they’d argue, as a result of Westminster austerity).

John Swinney.
John Swinney. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

John Swinney, the deputy first minister and education secretary, has been speaking at a fringe meeting, my colleague Libby Brooks reports. He set himself this goal.

An SNP conference reading list

Here are some blogs and columns on the SNP conference that are particularly worth reading.

The first minister’s speech was not designed to mollify 3,000 gullible delegates; rather it was a clear message to Theresa May and the country at large: we’ll do all we can to help you achieve a soft Brexit with Europe that respects Scotland’s position, so don’t blame us if it doesn’t happen.

Certainly, no one I spoke to in Glasgow over the last three days thinks the prime minister, in thrall to her party’s scarecrow wing, will come anywhere near meeting Ms Sturgeon’s measure of the worth of any Brexit deal.

Rather, the prevailing mood among delegates and activists was that the first minister is preparing the ground for a second referendum before Brexit occurs ...

That the opportunity to hold this has come about significantly earlier than many of us had expected is not because of hard-line SNP fundamentalism, but because of hard-line and reactionary Toryism.

The whole party wants Indyref2 to happen—if it is sure it can win. But that is an almighty if. Britain’s leading psephologist, John Curtice, kicked off the discussion [at a Prospect fringe at the conference] by summarising the polling on independence since the Brexit vote, which many nationalists had hoped would steel Scots—who voted to stay in Europe, and now face being dragged out by English votes—to make the split with the UK that they had ducked from making two years ago. Curtice, however, had dispiriting news. Few Scots, he said, cared all that much about Europe, and in fact a significant chunk of SNP voters had actually voted “Leave.” Yes, some people—perhaps one in 10 of all “No” voters in 2014—were now more inclined to vote for independence next time around, but a rather similarly-sized proportion of 2014 “Yes” voters had gone the other way. Either they preferred to be part of a Britain that was out of the EU, or they were increasingly nervous about the economics in the uncertain post-Brexit environment. Put it all together, and Scotland has barely swung at all.

The SNP MP Kirsty Blackman was frank in admitting that here the party faces phenomenal challenges with the sequencing of the referendum, in particular. If it rushed now—to exploit the full shock of the Brexit vote moment and the cross-border division that it revealed—London would be able to pretend that it would deliver all sorts of things from its negotiations with the EU. It might be impossible to secure both border control and single market access at the same time, but London could—for the moment—continue to bluff its way through and insist that it can have the best of all possible worlds, spinning its way through Indyref2 just as the Leavers did in the Brexit campaign. But if Scotland waits until the UK truly knows where it stands before deciding its future, then the UK will actually be out. The SNP would then have to explain how it would negotiate an independent Scotland’s place back in Europe, and would—without special treatment—have to accept both the euro and membership of the Schengen passport-free zone. All of which would greatly complicate the “Yes” side’s pitch.

If the UK government makes an offer to the Scottish government, who will judge whether this is enough to protect Scotland’s interest.

It looks like the final arbiter of that will be the First Minister. Now THAT is a decision.

What if it is not enough to satisfy the majority of the SNP demands?

Given how much the First Minister has upped the rhetoric, would she be able to look her party in the eye and say ‘No’ to a second independence referendum?

With her authority in the party Ms Sturgeon would probably be able to do so, but at what cost?

It might look rather like she has marched the troops towards the top of the hill but, just when they can see independence ahead, marched them down again.

Trust was a word that ran through every conversation. No one, it seems, trusts Westminster. Everyone trusts Nicola. If, then, she comes back in two years’ time to tell party members she has pulled off a spectacular deal that would allow Scotland to keep their European links but stay in the United Kingdom, they may well have to accept it. But that will not be the end of the story.

A short walk across the river Clyde from the main conference hall, the IdeaSpace alternative fringe is still going on.

Despite comparisons to Momentum’s festival at Labour conference, I think it’s fair to say that this fringe is far more complementary rather counter to the main event.

On Saturday morning, the author and academic Gerry Hassan is talking about his new book on SNP leaders, which inevitably takes in the history and psychology of the party as well.

He describes how success for the party in the early days ‘just meant keeping the show on the road’, before the SNP found its foothold in by-elections in the 70s and scooped up Labour votes with the campaign against Polaris being housed on the Clyde.

He also notes that the SNP’s political personality has always been as the party of outsiders: in the past it was a psychological leap to identify yourself with the party, and the party was in a strong position to critique institutional Scotland.

So what does that mean now that the party has experienced such a surge in popularity, Hassan asks. Given that the SNP will have been in government for 10 years next year, it’s impossible for the incumbents to remain the insurgents forever.

Updated

The resolution on cannabis (see 11.43am) was proposed by Laura Brennan-Whitefield, a party from Ayr North who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Here are extracts from her speech.

My name is Laura and I have been living with multiple sclerosis for nine years. And the fact that I am standing here conference giving a speech means that I am one of the lucky ones.

It has become clear to me that many people living with MS have been using cannabis to help with the symptoms of that condition. In fact, it’s one of the worst kept secrets at the hospital. All of these people risk a criminal record, unlike in Australia, Chile, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and some US states.

We as a developed Western nation are fast becoming behind the times.

In fact, a report publishd on 13 September this year by a cross-party group of MPs and peers has called on the government to introduce a system giving patients access to cannabis for medical reasons and to decriminalise the growing of small amounts at home for the same purposes.

However the law as it stands in the UK means that cannabis is a class b drug, and the current penalty for possession is up to five years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both, and for supply and production up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

Now, I don’t think someone in pain should be criminalised for trying to ease that pain.

Brennan-Whitefield said that MS sufferers could now get a drug called Sativex which contains cannabinoids (cannabis ingredients). But it was not widely available and a private prescription cost £4,250, she said. “Does that sound fair to you?” she asked.

She said she was only proposing to decriminalise cannabis for medical use, and that it was not just MS sufferers who might benefit. Cannabis could help with arthritis, cancer, Chron’s disease, epilepsy, and palliative care, she said.

Given that these people who are suffering pain - and I can assure you, those who are willing to use cannabis have in most cases exhausted every other option - is it not unreasonable to criminalise them? I am talking about some of the most vulnerable people in society who may have had the added misfortune of going through the DWP’s inhumane assessment procedure for disability benefits. To be then branded criminals, for trying to have a quality of life?

I know what it is to suffer pain. And, be in no doubt, if it came to it, I would not hesitate to ease that pain in any way I could because that is a natural instinct.

But if my condition were to deteriorate to that stage I would be reliant on other people to help me: my friends, my family, and most of all my partner Stephen who I really don’t thank enough for the care that he gives me.

A drug conviction has very real consequences, serious consequences for your future prospects and your employment prospects. I think that now is the time to show that we are the party of compassion and common sense and it is now that we should be sending out a message to those people that we hear you and we are not shying away from this issue as Westminster is.

Here is Brennan-Whitefield making her speech.

SNP delegates call for cannabis to be decriminalised for medical use

Delegates have overwhelmingly backed the resolution saying cannabis should be decriminalised for medical use.

This does not mean this will happen in Scotland because this is a matter for the UK government. The resolution also calls for responsibility for this to be devolved to Edinburgh.

You can read all the Guardian’s SNP conference coverage here.

And here are four stories from the Scottish papers today about the conference worth noting.

After Ms Sturgeon said it was “inconceivable” that Westminster would block a vote, Downing Street said the 2014 result was “decisive” and it was “vital” it was respected for a generation.

Former SNP justice secretary Kenny MacAskill warned Mrs May might block a referendum, saying she could simply tell the First Minister: “No, you’re not getting it.”

The Herald has splashed on this story, with the headline: “Sturgeon and May in bitter stand-off on independence.” The Scotsman and the Scottish edition of the Times have also splashed on versions of this story.

Geoff Aberdein told a fringe event at the SNP conference yesterday that the “laws of political gravity” meant “what goes up must come down”.

A special adviser to the former first minister for four years, then his chief of staff for three, Mr Aberdein is now head of European Public Affairs at Aberdeen Asset Management.

He told delegates: ‘The SNP has done tremendously well in elongating their popularity and the Scottish referendum in 2014 engaged people like never before.”

However he added: ‘The SNP will be struggling, in my opinion, to have a majority at the next election. They didn’t get one this year and they only command a majority with the Greens.

“So that does point to it being quite difficult in 2021 to get another parliamentary majority in favour of independence, whether with the Greens or not.”

Bobbies’ leader Calum Steele confronted the top Nat with pics from grotty nicks including a grim room for quizzing rape victims.

Mr Steele said: “This should anger us all.”

Wishart, who is chair of the Scottish affairs committee, said he tried to “push boundaries” online in a bid to engage with voters but issued a direct appeal to journalists not to criticise politicians for their posts.

He has previously been praised for his use of his social media site Twitter, which he described as a “crazy, anarchic, no-rules space”, winning last year’s Parliamentary Tweeter of the Year Award. However, he has regularly been criticised for his outspoken social media persona, most recently when he was forced to apologise after comparing Blairites to an “incontinent old relatives”.

Updated

Delegates are now debating a resolution calling upon the UK government to decriminalise cannabis for medical use.

An increasing number of countries now allow this. There is a list of them here.

SNP delegates back giving charitable status to state schools

Delegates have passed the resolution saying state schools should get the same charitable status for tax purposes as private schools. But it was close, and the chair had to call a card vote. The motion was passed by 464 votes to 455.

Those opposing the resolution were doing so on the grounds that it would be better just to stop private schools having charitable status in the first place. This benefit saved private schools in Scotland from having to pay £10m in business rates, one speaker said.

But those in favour of the motion said the Scottish government had in the past rejected proposals to remove charitable status from private schools, and that that was why an alternative approach was necessary.

In the conference hall delegates have passed a resolution urging the Scottish government to pass a Child Poverty Act. Currently they are debating one saying state schools should get the same charitable status as private schools.

Derek Mackay's Today interview - Summary

Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, was on the Today programme earlier, in the main 8.10 slot being interviewed by Sarah Montague. Before the interview the programme broadcast a package focusing on problems with the Scottish government’s record on education, and in particular on the attainment gap (the difference between what poor pupils achieve and what wealthy pupils achieve). In Scotland pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are four times less likely to go to university. In England they are 2.4 times less likely to go to university.

  • Mackay said that he accepted that the attainment gap was a problem in Scotland, but he said the Scottish government was taking steps to address it. The government would generate more money for education, he said. And he said Nicola Sturgeon had identified education as her number one priority.
  • He dismissed claims that Scotland’s policy of proving students with free university tuition disproportionately advantaged the middle classes. When this was put to him, he replied:

We believe that free education is part of the social contract in Scotland and that has encouraged students who would not otherwise have gone to university, who might have been frightened by debt to go. I was from a poorer background. I went to university. And if there were tuition fees in place it would have been very difficult for me to go.

  • He dismissed claims that the SNP was not using the new tax powers it has been given. Scottish tax policy was different from the UK’s, he said.

There will be divergence. We are not simply following what the Tory UK government is doing around income tax, for example.

There are details of the differences here.

If I produce a budget earlier than the chancellor’s autumn statement, it would be a fantasy budget. It would not be credible.

And here is Mackay being interviewed.

Derek MacKay and Nicola Sturgeon.
Derek MacKay and Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters

Updated

The press room at the SECC is still relatively quiet this morning. In a tweet yesterday Common Space’s Michael Gray said the hall set aside for the journalists here is the one that the entire SNP conference was held in four years ago, before its referendum-inspired membership surge.

Here is another extract from Nicola Sturgeon’s speech released overnight. She says the main battle of ideas in Scottish politics now is between the SNP and the “hard-right Tories”.

It may just be five months since we won the Holyrood election, but in many ways it feels like a political lifetime.

We are in a completely new era:

A new political era and a new battle of ideas.

A new era for our parliament, with new powers and responsibilities

And a new era for our relationship with Europe and the wider world.

There are challenges aplenty.

And as the world around us changes, we must ensure that Scotland remains the progressive, internationalist, communitarian country that the majority of us living here want it be.

That is exactly what we intend to do.

Make no mistake - today, we face a choice of two futures.

After last week in Birmingham, there can be no doubt – the choice we face has never been so stark.

The primary contest of ideas in our country is now between the SNP and the hard-right Tories.

You can always tell you’re at the conference of a governing party by the fact that there are protesters outside. People don’t protest against parties on opposition.

On my way into the conference I went past campaigners from the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition protesting against austerity, from Global Justice protesting against Ceta (the EU-Canada free trade deal), from the RMT union protesting against wages paid to non-British seafarers and from NO2NP, the campaign against the Scottish government’s named person scheme. There were only about 20 of them in all, but they were hard to miss.

UPDATE: This is from the BBC’s Philip Sim.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon has already delivered her first speech to the Scottish National party’s conference in Glasgow - the one announcing the publication of draft legislation for a second independence referendum - but her main address coming this afternoon. According to the SNP’s overnight briefing, it will contain a “heavy focus on domestic policy initiatives”.

But Brexit is going to feature too. As Severin Carrell and Libby Brooks report in their preview story, Sturgeon is going to announce plans to beef up Scotland’s trade links with the EU - on the grounds that Scotland cannot trust Conservative ministers like Boris Johnson and Liam Fox to represent it. Here is the story.

And here is the key quote from Sturgeon’s speech, from extracts released in advance overnight. Sturgeon will say:

Make no mistake, the growth of our economy right now is threatened not just by the prospect of losing our place in the single market – disastrous though that would be.

It is also the deeply damaging – and utterly shameful – message that the Tories’ rhetoric about foreign workers is sending.

And the uncertainty that message brings to our public services and Scottish employers .

More than ever, we need to tell our European friends that Scotland is open for business.

So, today I can announce a four-point plan to boost trade and exports.

First, we will establish a new Board of Trade drawing on the best business expertise.

Second, we will set up a new trade envoy scheme. It will ask prominent and successful Scots to help us, boost our national export effort.

Third, we will create permanent trade representation for Scotland with a Scottish Innovation and Investment Hub in Berlin.

Fourth, we will double the number of Scottish Development International staff working across Europe.

And let me be crystal clear about this – Scotland cannot trust the likes of Boris Johnson and Liam Fox to represent us.

They are retreating to the fringes of Europe, we intend to stay at its very heart where Scotland belongs .

To our European friends, we say: Scotland is open for business.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Debates on the Child Poverty Act, charitable status for Scotland’s state schools and decriminalising cannabis for medical use.

12.15pm: Fraternal address from Bethan Jenkins, a Plaid Cyrmu member of the Welsh assembly.

2pm: Debates on fishing, blood transfusion and gay men and the devolution of driving tests.

3.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon delivers her speech.

And here is my blog covering yesterday’s events at the SNP conference.

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.

Updated

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