Read John Swinney's full speech to SNP conference

The SNP’s leader and First Minister spoke to delegates around 3.30pm, saying that the conference had offered the party the opportunity to reflect on its defeat at the General Election.

"My promise to you is that I will make sure independence is understood as the route to a stronger and fairer country," he said.

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"Understood not as nice to have – but as urgent and essential here and now."

Swinney also took aim at Labour Government cuts, saying the party has announced "not the end of Tory austerity, but an intensification of Tory austerity."

You can read the full speech below.

Conference, it is an immense privilege for me to address you today - for the first time - as Scotland’s First Minister.

I want to begin by paying tribute to my predecessor, Humza Yousaf.

Humza is a great friend to so many of us in this party. He is a good and fine man - a passionate campaigner for the SNP and for independence.

He has served our country well and I thank Humza from the bottom of my heart.

In his time as First Minister, Humza championed the values of equality, opportunity and community.

That’s the kind of Scotland I know all of us in this party are striving to achieve.

We yearn for a world defined by love and compassion, where human rights and the rule of law are not just respected - but celebrated.

Humza was one of the first, and remains a leading voice, demanding an immediate ceasefire and the safe return of all hostages in Gaza.

Let the message from this conference be heard loud and clear: the killing of innocent men, women and children must end - and it must end now.

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Sadly, and perhaps even more dangerously, the conflict is now spreading to the West Bank and we’ve heard today the awful loss of life among the hostages that have been taken.

The suffering on all sides has gone on for far too long. So a ceasefire is essential. The sending of UK arms to Israel must stop.

All hostages must be returned. Israelis and Palestinians must be able to live in peace. And that peace must be based on a two-state solution and a viable, sovereign Palestinian state.

Conference, the agony we see daily on our television screens reminds us of our common humanity; as we watch the suffering and loss of loved ones endured by so many in the Gaza conflict, it reminds us of what really matters in life.

It reminds us that it is the love of those around us that makes us thrive. And for me that has been central to what I have done in the last few months.

Before I could respond to the many calls from across this party for me to stand for leadership, I had to be certain that those I love would be alright if I was First Minister.

As many of you know my wife Elizabeth has Multiple Sclerosis. Elizabeth’s condition is something that affects our lives every minute of every day.

We have to make plans, we have to make adjustments, we have to sometimes accept that some things are just not possible to do.

But despite all of that, Elizabeth remains determined that her condition should not stop her – and those around her - from living life to the full.

I can only lead this party, and be First Minister of Scotland, because Elizabeth is prepared to make the sacrifice of not having her husband around quite as much as she probably needs.

So to Elizabeth, thank you so much for the sacrifice you’re making so that I can serve our country.

Outside of my immediate family, I’ve been part of the SNP family for most of my life. I joined the SNP in 1979.

To put it mildly, it wasn’t the easiest of times. We’d had a bad election result and has lost the majority of our seats. We had 17% of the vote. Devolution – let alone independence – was off the table.

Like others, I decided that it was in the difficult times that it was most important to step up and to make a contribution.

It wasn’t easy. We went through some of the toughest times this party has ever had. But the hard work paid off. We helped create our national Parliament. The people of Scotland trusted us to be their government.

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And the prospect of a better future with independence became the dominant debate of Scottish politics.

And delegates, it’s only because the SNP stepped up then that we are able to deliver for the people of Scotland now.

Tens of thousands of parents are going out to work helped by the expansion of childcare we have delivered.

Tens of thousands of Scottish students are attending some of the finest universities in the world without paying a single penny in tuition fees and lots more of them are coming from deprived backgrounds because we made that happen.

And around 100,000 children are being kept out of poverty because we introduced policies like the Scottish Child Payment.

The SNP stepped up. We are transforming the lives of people in Scotland and we should be proud to say that.

Once again, it’s time for us all to step up. I joined the SNP, not because I wanted a political career. I joined the SNP because I believe in Scottish self-government – taking decisions in Scotland for Scotland – I believe that is the key to unlocking a better future for the people who choose to live here.

I believe that to be the case now more than ever - with all of my head and with all my heart.

July 4 was clearly an incredibly tough night for the SNP. So many great colleagues lost their seats and I want, as your leader and First Minister, to thank them for their service to their communities and to our country.

We’ve reflected as a party – and we are learning the lessons of that election. But today, I want to talk about how we are going to go forward to a better future. A better future for our party – and, more importantly, a better future for our country.

Firstly, let me address all of you in this hall and the wider party around the country. You are the people who knock the doors, make the calls, stuff the envelopes, nowadays, click the keyboards.

The people who turn up innocently to a local branch meeting and find yourself leaving as an office-bearer.

The people who campaign enthusiastically – even in the very worst weather that Scotland can throw at you - for the great cause that binds us together.

All of you deserve the most professional, modern, dynamic election-winning organisation.

And hear me when I say this: that is what I am going to deliver so we win in 2026.

When I stood for the SNP leadership back in May, I said I would enable honest, candid, respectful internal debate within the party.

That we could all have our say, and then once we have agreed how to proceed, we stick together. That is internal democracy in action. We have our say and then we move on together.

That is what has happened at this conference. That is what is going to happen in the future.

That is the foundation of a confident, sure-footed Scottish National Party that is able to lead our country to success.     

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We also have to make sure that we are heard by the public. And we only earn the right to be heard when we are focussed – not on ourselves – but on making life better for the people of Scotland.

As the SNP leader and First Minister it is my responsibility to make sure this is the case, I don’t want our party looking inwards – I want our party looking outwards, speaking with the people of Scotland, serving the people of Scotland – proving we are the party best able to take Scotland forward.

It’s just a few weeks since I re-entered front-line politics. When I became First Minister, I spoke of my desire for a less polarised national debate.

I gave a promise that I would work to bring our country together as First Minister, to serve everyone who chooses to make Scotland their home.

Recently in other parts of the United Kingdom, we saw far-right, Islamophobic and racist thugs trying to stoke division.

People fleeing oppression overseas feared for their lives in the United Kingdom. They deserved and expected sanctuary - but they ended up under attack.

People applying for asylum should never have to face that – they should feel safe – they should not feel fearful.  

As Scotland’s First Minister, I reached out and I heard first-hand from members of Scotland’s Muslim community, from members of Scotland’s Jewish community, and from other faith and community leaders.

Let me make a few things clear. This party will never, ever denigrate people who honour us by choosing to make Scotland their home.

Migrants have enriched our country in so many ways. Refugees are welcome here.

And whether it is anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or any form of prejudice the SNP will always stand up for a country free of hatred and intolerance.

And delegates, we will never be found wanting when the world has to step up.

Scotland opened her doors when Russia launched its war of aggression on Ukraine.

Conference, today – just as we did on February 24, 2022 – we stand with the people of Ukraine.

Conference, I know I speak for every single person in this hall when I say we are very glad to see the back of the Tory government.

If ever we needed proof that the Westminster system is broken, the last 14 years have provided the evidence.    

I have made clear that the SNP Government will work in good faith with the new Labour government if – and I stress the word if – it is in the interests of the people of Scotland to do so.

If the Prime Minister wants to start unpicking the damage of 14 years of Conservative rule, then he will find a willing partner in me. And delegates, there is an awful lot to unpick.

A good start for the Labour Government would be to unpick the erosion of the devolved powers of the Scottish Parliament carried out by the Tories under the excuse of Brexit.

The first sign that a Labour Government will work constructively with Scotland would be to restore the powers of the Scottish Parliament and to reverse the damage done by the discredited Tory Government.

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But I have to say, when I listen to some Labour front-benchers I fear their vision is very different from ours, and very different to the wishes of the people of Scotland.

Labour’s Health Secretary wants to “hold the door wide open” to private sector involvement in the NHS.

That might be Labour’s plan. It’s not our plan. The SNP will keep the NHS in public hands. Our NHS will never be up for sale. 

Labour’s Foreign Secretary thinks Labour should be as proud of creating the UK’s weapons of mass destruction as they are of creating the NHS.

The SNP wants to get rid of nuclear weapons and with independence, Trident will be removed from Scotland once and for all.

Labour is embracing Brexit. With independence, Scotland will be at the heart of Europe as an equal, independent member state.

And Labour have announced not the end of Tory austerity – but an intensification of Tory austerity.

You might remember a beautiful moment during the election campaign when the Labour leader in Scotland said to me and to the people of Scotland: “Read my lips, no austerity under Labour.”

Within weeks, the Chancellor stood up and announced £22 billion of spending cuts.

That is politics at its most cynical – and a total breach of trust with all those who supported Labour.

This then, has been a watershed week for the UK and for Scotland. I believe it will go down as an era-defining moment.

A Labour party that promised change is delivering more of the same. The same Tory debt rule. The same Tory cuts agenda. Labour hasn’t delivered change. Labour is delivering the same damaging austerity as the Tories.

I want to chart a very different course for our country. On my very first day as SNP leader, I said I wanted to lift every child in Scotland out of poverty.

I was lucky as a child. As a family there wasn’t a lot of money around, but we didn’t live in poverty.

But nearly 50 years ago here in this city, when I went to Forrester High School, it was clear to me that some of my classmates were growing up in poverty.

And now nearly 50 years on, my youngest son attends a local school in Perth, where there are children – my constituents – growing up in the same poverty.

After the passage of half a century, the persistence of child poverty is testament to how Westminster has totally and utterly failed Scotland.

This week, Labour attacked the SNP for the spending decisions we’ve made in government as part of our progressive, moderate left-of-centre agenda.

It was a rather baseless attack given that our SNP government has balanced the Budget every single year since 2007.

But we have taken spending decisions. And believe you me, I am proud of them.

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We’re spending hundreds of millions of pounds to lift children out of poverty. Through the Scottish Child Payment we’re putting £26.70 a week directly into the hands of low-income families for each eligible child.

A measure described as the most significant intervention in tackling inequality in Europe since the 1980s. That is what your SNP government is doing.

And Labour? The Labour Government is pushing tens of thousands of children in Scotland into poverty by keeping the Tory – now the Labour – two-child cap.

By sticking to Tory debt rules – and by extension, forcing the whole of the UK to do the same – Labour appear to want us to abandon low-income families; to abandon children in poverty.

Delegates, we’re not going to do that.

Let’s instead resolve together to abandon the whole rotten Westminster system – that’s what we should be abandoning.

Next week I will set out our Programme for Government, building on the SNP record, building on our beliefs that investing in our people, our public services and our planet is the means to building prosperity for all.

In an era of Westminster cuts, we are going to have to work harder, and smarter, if we are to deliver on our ambitions for Scotland.

But this party has never, ever been afraid to work hard in pursuit of a better Scotland. That is what we all came into politics to do.

So next week, I will set out how we can tailor support better to families ensuring they get the help they need, when they need it, to lift those families out of poverty.

This support – this whole-family support – will not have the immediate impact of ending the two-child cap.

But it is an example of the sustained, smarter policy making we are delivering in government.

The baby box, the expansion of early learning, family nurse partnerships, the Scottish Child Payment – these policies are all helping to transform the life chances of children in our country. That is the investment we are making in Scotland’s future.

And delegates, we will also prioritise our public services – including our cherished NHS. We will bring forward reforms to shift the balance of care to preventive and community-based support.

Of course, none of this could be possible without the hard work – day in, day out – of our NHS staff. I am determined we do everything we can to support them.

That’s why the pay deal the SNP government has put on the table will ensure Scotland’s nurses and NHS staff are the best paid in the United Kingdom, and we should be proud of that.

In our primary schools, we’ve got record levels of literacy and numeracy. Every young person deserves the best possible education, and I will ensure that all of us – government, councils, teachers and parents – are able to play our part in delivering that.

In housing, the SNP have delivered over 40% more affordable homes per head of population than in England, and over 70% more than in Wales.

But it is not enough. I am acutely aware we face a housing emergency – and my government will do everything we can to tackle that crisis. 

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Conference, so that we can work to end child poverty and sustain our public services we need to have a dynamic Scottish economy, an economy that can transition to net zero.

In office, the SNP has been building a greener economy. When we took office, renewable technologies generated the equivalent of around 20% of Scotland’s gross electricity consumption. Since then, this has soared to 113%.

Conference, just think about that. Scotland is literally bursting with energy. Yet as part of the UK, we’re paying some of the highest energy prices in Europe.

And what has our new Labour Government done about all of this?

Well, Labour promised to cut energy bills by £300. But in October – at the start of winter – energy bills will rise by an average of £149. And 900,000 pensioners in Scotland will lose their Winter Heating Payment.

Delegates, Labour should be ashamed to show either of their two faces in Scotland ever again.

Our renewables revolution is gathering pace. We’ve supported Sumitomo, bringing up to 300 jobs to the Cromarty Firth as part of a growing offshore wind supply chain.

We’re supporting investment at Ardersier Port so it can become a critical offshore wind hub and a major source of jobs and growth.

The Highlands of Scotland – breath-taking in their beauty, and now a vibrant centre of renewables-based manufacturing: That’s the kind of action we are delivering in government.

These projects are symbolic of my ambitions for the Scottish economy. They are illustrative of what I want my ministers to be securing every day of every week, so they can’t say they weren’t warned.

I want my ministers out there getting Investment, investment, investment in the future of Scotland. That is how we will grow the economy and create the fair and just society of our aspirations.

The latest survey on inward investment from the financial services firm EY said this recently: “Scotland outpaced both the UK and Europe with Foreign Direct Investment growth last year.”

That’s good news, very good news. But we need to build on that performance and make it better.

Because when we look at small independent countries across Europe they have higher business investment than the UK, higher productivity, higher living standards, lower inequality and lower levels of poverty.

That, my friends, is what independence brings.

And would Scotland be able to achieve that? We are a country not just of extraordinary energy resources, but an exceptional food and drink sector, advanced manufacturing, outstanding strength in creativity and innovation, some of the world’s very best universities, thriving financial and business services, magnificent cities and breath-taking scenery for the best tourism experience anywhere on the planet.

And above all, we have our talented and resourceful people.

Scotland has what it takes to be a successful independent nation.

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The SNP fought elections in 2017, in 2019 and in 2021 on a manifesto commitment to hold a referendum on independence.

We won each of those elections – and each time with a higher share of the vote than Labour achieved either here in Scotland or across the UK back on July 4.

At each of those elections the Westminster parties denied – and continue to deny – Scottish democracy.

They blocked the democratic will of the people of Scotland. They couldn’t have been more short-sighted.

Because they have destroyed the basis upon which many people in Scotland believe the UK to be founded: An equal partnership of nations and a voluntary union.

I’ll tell you what a true equal partnership looks like: An independent Scotland working in harmony with our closest friends in the rest of the UK, and back where we belong.

Not part of a broken Brexit Britain but, back at the very beating heart of Europe as an independent country.

Conference, one of the conclusions I have drawn from the Westminster election, and I’ve thought about it a lot, has led me to a fundamental commitment which I will make to you.

Never again will we go into an election with people thinking: I like the idea of independence, but that can wait because I’m more concerned about the economy, or my job, or the cost of living or the NHS.

My promise to you is that I will make sure independence is understood as the route to a stronger and fairer country.

Understood, not as nice to have – but as urgent and essential here and now. That is how we will make independence happen.

So my leadership is about earning the right to be heard – by delivering on the public’s priorities. It’s about people, prosperity, public services and the planet. 

Staying true to our values amid Westminster austerity, total faith in Scottish democracy.

And campaigning on an independence platform deeply intertwined with people’s everyday concerns.

That is how we will lead our country to a more hopeful and optimistic future with independence.

Delegates, if you ever wanted to remind yourself what hope, optimism and a sense of possibility feel like, cast your mind back a decade.

2014 was an incredible year – where real change was truly in the air.

It began with one of the most significant moments in the history of our country when members of the Scottish Parliament debated and approved equal marriage legislation. Love did triumph.

It was a year where Scotland showcased herself to the world, as we hosted the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup. And it was a year when Scotland was energised as we debated our future as a country.

A debate rich with imagination and excitement. It was contagious – and it was empowering.

Delegates, in a few weeks’ time it’ll be exactly ten years since the independence referendum.

Ten years on we live in a UK that took away our European citizenship. A UK reeling from the almost unimaginable premierships of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

And while a Labour Prime Minister once arrived in Downing Street to the tune of Things Can Only Get Better, the current Labour Prime Minister tells us quite openly that things can only get worse.

This is not the future that Scotland was promised in 2014. We were told we were Better Together. We were promised, and don’t laugh too much, strong and stable.

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But instead in 2024 a Labour Government tells us the United Kingdom is in the worst economic state since World War Two.

So it falls on us – the national party of Scotland – to awaken that sense of optimism and hope amongst our fellow Scots. To rekindle the imagination of our nation. To show them that a better future is possible. To unite our country to win our independence.

That is what we have got to do, and that is what we are going to do.

Conference, when I joined this party as a teenager, I didn’t really honestly know what I was getting myself into.

I can still remember heading out to my very first SNP branch meeting, only a couple of miles from where we are today.

On the way out of the house, I remember my mother shouting to me: Whatever you do, don’t go to the pub.

Delegates, I went to the pub.

That’s because I’d made friends with a bunch of incredibly passionate and committed like-minded people. Dedicated activists who were determined to get the job done.

Some of them sadly didn’t live to see the re-convening of the Scottish Parliament, and many knew they might never see the independent Scotland for which they campaigned their whole lives.

But they also knew that, without their efforts – without their passion – these goals would never be achieved. And they have passed the torch on to us.

Over the years I’ve been privileged to have a front row seat as this nation has steadily grown in confidence, taking the first steps to self-government and rediscovering her own voice on the international stage.

Every other morning, I get up to go for a run through the streets of Edinburgh. It clears my head and it gets me ready for the day. But it does something else.

When I watch the rising sun light up the buildings of this ancient and stunning city, I often think about how I’m looking at the very same steeples, the very same streets, and the very same geology that inspired some of the greatest minds ever to have lived.

Visionaries who understood the world around them not only as it was, but who had the imagination to see things differently – and to show others what they could see.

And that, my friends, is the spirit that we – still in the early morning of this century – must capture in our own small way.

We rightly celebrate Scotland’s significant contribution to the modern world. But doing so is only worthwhile if it motivates us to build a modern Scotland that contributes every bit as much – if not more – to the world of tomorrow.

I have complete faith in the people of Scotland to take the right decisions about their future. If we give them the tools, they can build whatever country they want.

Scotland has got what it takes. We can be a successful, happy and prosperous independent nation.

There is much that lies ahead of us that we know about, but much that we don’t. Whatever our future holds, that future will be better if it is created by us – the people of Scotland.

We have to make that happen – and we have to do so together.