Sturgeon to call second independence referendum

Nicola Sturgeon today mocked Theresa May’s calamitous conference speech as she used her own party address to vow to hold a second referendum.

The SNP leader brandished a pack of strepsils and told her activists ‘I’ve come prepared’ in a jibe at the PM’s speech which was ruined after by a persistent cough.

The Scottish First Minister defied a hammering at the ballot box to promise SNP delegates she will press ahead with a second independence referendum over Brexit. 

The SNP leader said she regretted the defeat of MPs at the general election but refused to apologise for June’s heavy loss of 21 seats as she promised to press ahead with a re-run before the next Scottish elections in 2021.

Ms Sturgeon insisted her party had won a mandate to call the poll ‘fairly and squarely’ in May’s Scottish Parliament election – but stopped short of naming a date. 

She promised party activists they would still get another chance despite losing a third of their MPs in June. She had appeared to put her referendum demand on ice in the election aftermath.

Independence burst to prominence at the SNP conference today after party managers spent the three day gathering trying to force the focus onto domestic policy.

The SNP leader said she regretted the loss of MPs at the general election but refused to apologise for the heavy losses as she promised to press ahead with a re-run of 2014.

The SNP leader appeared at the start of her speech with a box of Strepsils as she mocked Theresa May for her own disastrous effort on the conference stage last week

But depute leader Angus Robertson today declared ‘there will be a referendum on Scottish independence’ and Mhairi Black, the party’s poster girl in Westminster, said it would never be put on the back burner. 

Ms Sturgeon appeared at the start of her speech with a box of Strepsils as she mocked Theresa May for her own disastrous effort on the conference stage last week. 

Responding to activist demands for progress on independence, Ms Sturgeon said Brexit was one of three historic moments in which Scotland’s interests had been cast aside by Westminster. 

She said: ‘As I have always said, Scotland should have the right to choose our future when the terms of Brexit are clear.

‘We have a mandate to give the people that choice. That mandate was won fairly and squarely. But exercising it must be done with the interests of all of Scotland at heart.

‘People want clarity about Brexit first. We respect that.

‘But to all of you here in this hall and across our country who are impatient for change, let me say this: We may not yet know exactly when the choice will be made.

‘But we can, we must, and we will always make the case for independence.’ 

Ms Sturgeon accused Theresa May of taking Britain ‘down a path of self imposed decline’ and claimed it meant the need for independence has ‘never been greater’.  

She told party members: ‘So let us make our case with conviction. Let us address concerns head on.

‘And above all, let us inspire confidence in our fellow citizens that the way things are now is not the way they must always be.

‘There is a better future to be had for all of us, if we chose to build it, together.’ 

Ms Sturgeon insisted her party had won the mandate to call the poll ‘fairly and squarely’ in May and used her conference speech in Glasgow to reawaken her plans

The SNP leader used her speech to promise party activists they would get another chance in a speech in which she set out a 10-year plan for SNP rule over Scotland.

SNP depute leader Angus Robertson today declared: ‘There will be a referendum on Scottish independence.’

The SNP leader condemened Mrs May’s Government and demanded an end to austerity. 

Ms Sturgeon told delegates: ‘There is a bankruptcy at the heart of this Tory Government. It is a moral one.

‘The rape clause. The misery being caused to so many by the shambles that is Universal Credit. Treatment of disabled people so appalling that the UN brands it a human catastrophe.

‘And all the while tax cuts handed to those who earn the most. That is Tory austerity.

‘Heartless, shameful, self defeating. For the sake of decency, austerity must end – and it must end now.’ 

A new YouGov poll for The Times today places support for the Union at 50 per cent, against 39 per cent for independence. The gap widens to 14 points if Don’t Know responses are excluded from the sample.

Ms Black lashed an ‘economically selfish, increasingly xenophobic, cruel and reckless Britain’ the SNP should keep campaigning for a second vote on Scotland’s place in the UK. 

Ms Black branded the UK a ‘sinking ship’ and she said: ‘Some people are saying we should put independence on the back burner – why would we ever?

‘We should never be scared to talk about anything in society. The idea that because we had one vote on the matter we can never exercise our democratic rights on the matter ever again is utterly ridiculous.’

Mhairi Black (pictured at conference today), the high profile MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, roused the conference with a spirited defence independence hours before Ms Sturgeon’s speech

Activists hailed the 23-year-old with a huge standing ovation as the question of independence finally broke into public view after three days of stage managed conference action

In a rallying cry to delegates, the party poster girl said: ‘Let’s get out there and let’s get independence.’  

She condemned Jeremy Corbyn as a bitter disappointment for the left in Scotland and accused him of offering ‘more of the same London spin and nothing more than talking a good game’.  

SNP MP CLAIMS MAY’S CONGRATULATIONS FOR KATE’S THIRD CHILD IS ‘UNJUST’

SNP activists voted in favour of clawing back the Sovereign Grant from the Queen 

An SNP MP today claimed it was unjust for Theresa May to congratulate William and Kate on having a third child while stripping benefits from other families with more than two kids.

Alison Thewliss hit out at the Royal Family in a debate at the SNP conference about scrapping the sovereign grant. 

She told delegates: ‘If you are the royal couple and you have a third child, Theresa May will congratulate you.

‘If you are a poor person on tax credits and you have a third child, the Tories will condemn you.

‘We need to think about the injustice and unfairness of this.’

Party activists demanded the Queen is stripped of the funding so the money can be spent in Scotland instead.

The grant is public money handed to the Royal household and is partly funded by revenues from the state-owned Crown estate. It was worth more than £71million this year.   

Activist Julie Hepbern told the conference: ‘It is the equivalent of the royal family winning the lottery every year.

‘No need for the royal family to play Euromillions. With the sovereign grant, 

‘Her Majesty is purring all the way to the bank.’ 

She added: ‘I don’t support a constitutional role or the provision of public funding for the monarchy.

‘But, until such time as we are given a choice in the matter, the UK government will continue to fund them with public money – our money.’

The policy motion is powerless to change Scottish Government policy, which is to redirect some revenues from Crown Estate land in Scotland to local communities.  

Slamming the Labour leader, Ms Black said: ‘If you’re going to call for an end to austerity don’t release a manifesto scrapping £2 billion out of a total £9 billion of planned Tory cuts.

‘Don’t tell the vulnerable that you’re fighting for them when you choose to keep 78% of Tory cuts.

‘Don’t tell young people that you would scrap tuition fees and then turn a blind eye to Labour putting them up in Wales. 

‘Don’t tell us you’re different and then still sign up to spend billions of pounds on nuclear weapons.

‘Don’t come to Scotland and condescend us, claiming that the Scottish Government with 15% of welfare powers can somehow undo Tory austerity when your party voted against devolving the real powers that matter.  

Activists hailed the 23-year-old with a huge standing ovation as the question of independence finally broke into public view after three days of stage managed conference action. 

In her speech this afternoon, Ms Sturgeon will tell delegates to prepare for the next decade.

She will say: ‘Over the past ten years, we have led the way. We should be proud of what we achieved.

‘Our focus now is on the next ten years and beyond.

‘The world we live in today is changing at a faster pace than we have ever known.

‘The challenges we face are generational. Our responses must be transformational.’

The First Minister will used her speech to spell out the details of her programme for government, announcing 30 hours of free childcare for parents and more early years education.

But she also claimed Scotland faces a battering as it is dragged through the Brexit process by Westminster.

Ms Sturgeon will tell activists: ‘We know that Scotland does better when decisions are taken here in Scotland.

‘So as we look ahead we face a choice: We can trail in the wake of the change that is coming – or we can choose to shape our own future.

‘Let’s resolve this today: Let’s not wait for others to decide for us

‘Let’s put Scotland in the driving seat.’ 

A new YouGov poll for The Times today places support for the Union at 50 per cent, against 39 per cent for independence.

The gap widens to 14 points if Don’t Know responses are excluded from the sample – leaving independence far behind the 44.7 per cent it secured in 2014. 

The poll also reveals more than half of Scots – 52 per cent – do not think there should be another referendum within five years. 

Ms Sturgeon acknowledged in the summer her push for a new poll over Brexit cost the party seats on June 8. 

She put plans to try and force a second referendum on the backburner – but has used this week’s conference to underline her belief the SNP still has a mandate to call a new referendum before the next Scottish elections in 2021.

The demand for independence has bubbled under the surface at this week’s conference, frequently being introduced to speeches and floor debates superficially on other subjects. 

The demand for Scottish independence has bubbled under the surface at this week’s conference.

In other developments at the conference today, a Scottish Government minister hit out at Conservatives over their support for unconventional gas – telling them to ‘frack off’.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Transport Minister, said the failure to outlaw fracking south of the border would put the countryside and communities at risk.

The SNP Government announced last week the controversial practice will be banned in Scotland, with a moratorium that was already in place extended indefinitely.

The Tories are the only party in the Scottish Parliament who support hydraulic fracturing for gas, with the SNP, Labour, Greens and the Liberal Democrats all against.

Mr Yousaf, speaking at the SNP conference in Glasgow, said: ‘For those particularly in the Tory Party who say that by being so environmental we’re going to harm Scotland’s economy I have two words for you – frack off.’

He added: ‘Where the UK Government is prepared to put at risk their communities and countryside from fracking the Scottish Government, your Scottish Government will allow no such thing, let me make it abundantly clear – under the SNP’s watch there will be no fracking in Scotland.’

Sturgeon takes to the conference stage with a box of Strepsils as she mocks Theresa May’s disastrous conference speech

Nicola Sturgeon ridiculed Theresa May’s disastrous conference speech today as she appeared in front of delegates with a box of Strepsils. 

Mocking the PM, she passed the throat sweets to her finance minister Derek Mackay.

Mrs May suffered through her 65 minute speech in Manchester last week, coughing and spluttering throughout.

The set piece occasion was also disrupted by a stage invasion and a collapsing set. 

Nicola Sturgeon ridiculed Theresa May’s disastrous conference speech today as she appeared in front of delegates with a box of Strepsils

Mocking the PM, she passed the throat sweets to her finance minister Derek Mackay.

After ridiculing the PM, the SNP leader condemened Mrs May’s Government and demanded an end to austerity. 

Ms Sturgeon told delegates: ‘There is a bankruptcy at the heart of this Tory Government. It is a moral one.

‘The rape clause. The misery being caused to so many by the shambles that is Universal Credit. Treatment of disabled people so appalling that the UN brands it a human catastrophe.

‘And all the while tax cuts handed to those who earn the most. That is Tory austerity.

‘Heartless, shameful, self defeating. For the sake of decency, austerity must end – and it must end now.’ 

Mrs May coughed and spluttered through a crucial speech to the Tory conference on Wednesday (pictured)

Mrs May’s speech was interrupted by a prankster (left) and the PM was embraced by her husband as consolation at the end of the disastrous address (right)