John Swinney

Friends, we are winning. One by one, the stars are aligning in our favour.

Make no mistake – if we had lost the election this year, if we were out of power – then the independence cause would have been set back decades.

Conference, because we won the election – and because we won the trust of people in Scotland - we can now do two things: improve people’s lives here and now, and build the best possible future by delivering Scottish independence.

Words are not enough Scotland belongs to all who live here.

We will back them with a new three-year £30 million Scotland Together Fund to give them the tools they need to push back the tide of racism in Scotland.

I can announce today that we will fund the community groups, the people who are the very best of us, who are doing the hard yards to build bridges and break down barriers.

I’m all for the Scottish Parliament having as many powers as it possibly can do, and I’ll work constructively to make sure we bring all those powers to Scotland.

I’ve got a track record throughout my political life of working to make sure as many powers as possible are exercised here in Scotland.

The Prime Minister is very welcome in Scotland and I’ll be interested to hear what he’s got to say.

And I would welcome Scotland being able to determine our approach to immigration and to asylum.

So Scotland’s a welcoming country. We want to make sure that when people come to Scotland, we can support them and that we can support them well.

I think that would be welcome because I think part of the challenge that Glasgow City Council is wrestling with is the fact that the United Kingdom’s approach to these issues has not delivered the type of support that would allow a city…

I think there’s very clear and growing evidence about the desire of people in Scotland to decide their own future.

So, my challenge to the UK Government is stop standing in the way of Scotland’s renewable energy development.

The Tory government was absolutely hopeless in developing the renewable energy sector.

I would encourage organisations who have not already applied to check what support they may be eligible for.

We are moving beyond the idea of communities as passive hosts of energy infrastructure. Our approach supports them to become active partners by helping them to invest in, own and benefit from the clean energy future.

As we approach conference, the wind is in the sails of the SNP and the Yes movement – we have been emphatically re-elected, we have the biggest, pro-independence majority in the history of the parliament, independence is in the lead, the…

If we can’t take at face value what the Prime Minister says to the House of Commons without him going back there to change what he said in the House of Commons, I think we’re in a pretty poor position.

I think members should be very optimistic about where our strategy has got us, because by winning an election for a fifth term in office, the SNP Government that supports independence is in the lead of political debate in Scotland.

The SNP’s got a very bold agenda to set out and to explain to the public at conference.

For the first time ever, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are led by pro-independence First Ministers. There could be no clearer sign that Westminster must prepare for a post-UK future.

I think in the circumstances the Government faced, an intervention to protect employment and economic activity and an investment that protected the public purse was a rational decision for the Government to take.

“As we remember all those who lost their lives on October 7 and in the conflict since, we do so in equal condemnation of terror and violence, and in the belief that compassion must prevail over hatred, unity over division and peace over…