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CONFERENCE ADDRESS BY NICOLA STURGEON MSP, SNP DEPUTY LEADER
Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party, today
(Saturday 12 March) addressed the Party's Campaign Conference in Dundee.
The full text of the Speech is below:
Convener,
Fellow Nationalists,
Six months ago, Alex Salmond and I were elected by you, and by thousands
like you, to lead our Party.
To lead it, not just at Holyrood and at Westminster, but throughout our
country.
To lead it in every city, town, village and community.
And to lead it to success.
Well we've made a start.
A good start.
Our membership is rising.
Our finances are building.
We are winning by-elections and we are winning them well.
Now this Campaign Conference puts all of us on high alert for our next
national challenge.
The UK Election is our chance to make Scotland matter.
We should - and we will - go into that election campaign brimming with
confidence.
Whenever the question is put, polls show that the SNP is the party most
trusted to stand up for Scotland.
And what's more, they show that Alex Salmond is the leader most trusted
to stand up for Scotland.
Not that we need opinion polls to tell us that. Alex usually tells us
himself.
But we know it's true.
And our opponents know it too.
Alex Salmond is the ace in our pack.
But he is not the only ace we can play.
Our policies will make a difference to Scotland.
Labour's, the Tories', the Liberal's - theirs won't
Because they will fight this election on policies that apply south of
the border only.
A few weeks ago, the Tories announced that they would help pensioners
with the council tax.
What they forgot to mention - what had to be dragged out of them - was
the fact that only pensioners south of the border are eligible.
At least they are consistent.
Because the Tories have never ever helped pensioners in Scotland with
anything.
Remember that it was the Tories who broke the link between pensions and
earnings.
That vindictive act has cost Scottish pensioners £38 a week.
The Tories were anti Scottish then and, make no mistake, they are anti
Scottish now.
Even David McLetchie has to be forced to spend time with them.
Everyone thinks it's the lost £30,000 that will hurt him most now that
he's had to give up his second job.
But they're wrong.
It's being made to spend all day, every day with that rabble that is the
Scottish Tory party.
And then we have the Liberals.
More's the pity.
The party of high ideals and lofty principles.
The party that puts the "moan" into sanctimonious.
Until they get a chance to put their principles into practice.
It's a different story then.
Next time you hear Charlie Kennedy say that the Liberals will scrap the
unfair council tax, remember this - his party has been in power for six
years in Scotland.
The council tax hasn't been abolished under the Liberals.
It's gone up by 55% under the Liberals.
And what about Labour?
Last week, in this city, Tony Blair boasted about improvements in the
health service - the English Health Service.
No wonder wee Jack looked confused. He knows - like every patient the
length and breadth of this country knows - that in Scotland, under
Labour, the health service isn't getting better, it is getting worse.
The doctors, nurses, all those who work in the NHS do a fantastic job
and they deserve our unstinting praise and admiration.
But they are being let down - just like patients are being let down - by
a government whose only idea to improve our national health service is
to hand it over to the private sector.
Two weeks ago, Mr McConnell told the Scottish Parliament that outpatient
waiting times were coming down.
But on Thursday, at First Minister's Questions, I revealed some figures
that he had tried to keep hidden, and that false boast was blown to
pieces.
Here's the truth - the real truth.
In June 1999, there were 885 people in Scotland who had waited more than
a year to see a consultant for the first time.
Bad enough. But today, it is almost ten times worse.
From 885 people suffering to 7679.
Any decent person would have been ashamed.
Any decent politician would at least have acknowledged the scale of the
problem.
And any decent national leader would have used live TV to apologise to
each and every one of these long suffering patients.
But not this First Minister.
He just made excuses. He said he'd been working so hard to get inpatient
waiting times down that he hadn't got round to outpatients yet.
That is contemptuous arrogance.
What makes it much worse is that it is not even true.
You see, the figures we obtained last week had some alarming revelations
about inpatient waiting times as well.
The number of people who have had to wait more than a year to be
admitted to hospital for an operation has also nearly doubled under
Labour.
Mr McConnell should be hanging his head in shame.
In his stewardship of the NHS, outpatient waiting times have gone up,
inpatient waiting times have gone up, all waiting times have gone up.
In ours we'll get a grip.
We'll train more doctors and nurses.
We'll invest in fast track diagnostic and treatment centres.
Within the health service, not hived off to the private sector.
And we'll take responsibility.
Because that's what leadership is about.
The First Minister has promised that, by the end of this year, no
patient will wait more than 6 months to see a consultant.
Let me say this.
If that promise is broken, if patients are let down again, sacking
another health minister won't be good enough.
I issue this challenge to the First Minister.
Make it a personal pledge.
Put your job on the line.
Tell Scottish patients that if you fail to deliver, again, if you are
not up to the job, then you'll hand over to someone who is.
Labour's campaign slogan at this election is "Forwards, not back".
How about some Scottish variations based on the reality of waiting lists
and waiting times?
Up, not down.
Longer, not shorter.
Here's one for the Scottish elections too.
And let his one put them on notice.
Labour - OUT, not IN.
Labour, Liberals, Tories. They and their policies don't work for
Scotland.
These parties will pay lip service - at most - to the needs of the
Scottish people in this election.
Only the SNP can be trusted to put Scotland first.
And I say this to everyone watching at home, to the people of this
country.
With your help, we will make the issues that matter to you, to your
families and your communities, matter in this election.
We will make Scotland matter.
No other party will even try.
There's a lot of talk these days about voter apathy.
Tony Blair lectures about the dangers of it.
And it makes my blood boil to hear him.
Voters are not apathetic.
They are disillusioned.
And he is the reason.
His lies.
His deceit.
His dishonesty.
That's what makes voters turn away in disgust.
But I make this plea to every single Scottish voter.
Don't tar the rest of us with Labour's dirty brush.
And don't sit this election out.
If the state of the health service matters to you;
If your children's education matters to you;
If the way we treat our pensioners matters to you;
If the future of our country matters to you;
Don't sit this one out.
Remember the time Helen Liddell said that low turnout was a sign of
contentment with Labour?
Don't let them get away with that again.
Don't let Labour claim your silence as an endorsement.
If you feel let down by Labour, at odds with Labour, angry with Labour,
make your voice heard.
There are big issues at stake in this election.
There are choices to be made.
Sides to be taken.
On pensions, that choice is between those, like Labour, who would treat
our pensioners like second class citizens and those of us who want to
give them the dignity they deserve.
Gordon Brown said in his speech to the Labour conference last week that
he wanted to eradicate poverty.
But actions speak louder than words.
When Gordon Brown became Chancellor, 170,000 pensioners were dependent
on means tested benefits.
Today, 330,000 pensioners are forced through the indignity of means
testing just to get what should be theirs as of right.
Thousands more are too proud or too frail to even apply and so they go
without instead
Gordon Brown is no friend of Scottish pensioners.
He is Mr Means Test.
And because of that, after 8 years of Labour, 1 in 5 of our pensioners
still lives in poverty.
It is a national shame.
And no-one should feel that shame more than Gordon Brown.
So, on that clear choice between treating our pensioners like second
class citizens and treating them with decency and dignity, make no
mistake.
This Party, the SNP, knows what side it is on.
We will introduce a Citizen's Pension payable to everyone, as of right.
That's the side the SNP is on.
There are other big issues at stake too.
If Labour gets its way, the means test will only be one obstacle to a
decent pension.
You'll need an ID card as well.
This Labour government is the most authoritarian UK government in living
memory;
A government that needs lessons in human rights from the House of Lords
has clearly lost its moral compass.
So, we know what Labour wants from ID cards.
The ability to keep tabs on us and put yet another barrier between us
and public services.
What's not clear is what we, the public, will get from ID cards.
We know what they'll cost us - £85 out of our own pockets.
But what benefit will we get?
They say it'll help to combat terrorism.
But where's the evidence?
The Madrid train bombing - one year ago yesterday - was an atrocity that
happened in a country with ID cards.
Communities all over Scotland feel the fear of crime.
But what they are crying out for are not useless bits of plastic.
What they want, what they need, are more police on our streets.
So, on the issue of ID cards versus real community security, this Party
knows what side we are on.
There will be no ID cards with the SNP.
Big Brother won't be watching you under an SNP government.
Instead, we will be busy investing in community police officers.
We will be hard at work making our communities safer.
And making all those who live in them feel more secure.
That's the side the SNP is on.
Friends, all of the issues that I have spoken about today are vital.
But the most vital of all is the very future of our nation.
Dignity for our pensioners;
Real security for our communities;
Public services to be proud of.
They all demand Independence.
Scotland is once again at a crossroads.
Six years into a Parliament of our own, downcast by the disappointments
of devolution, but with no desire to go back to the days of remote rule
from London, we have a choice.
Having come so far, we could take fright, lose faith in our ability to
govern ourselves and chose to travel no further.
But there is a better alternative.
John F Kennedy said that we should never let our fears hold us back from
pursuing our hopes.
In 1999, this nation was full of hope.
That hope was dashed by the reality of this Scottish Executive and their
lacklustre performance in our Parliament.
But we can rediscover our hope and our optimism.
We can renew it by grasping the possibilities of Independence.
Labour's stock in trade is fears and smears.
They can't inspire Scotland with a vision of their own, so they try to
make people scared of ours.
They say that Independence would be bad for Scotland.
Imagine making that argument to someone from Norway.
Norway -
The 2nd richest country on earth.
With some of the best public services.
The world's biggest giver of international aid.
A country that has invested its vast oil wealth for the future, instead
of allowing one of its neighbours to squander it away.
A nation that, this year, celebrates 100 years of Independence.
Independence might be bad for the politicians who have built careers out
of holding Scotland back.
But for the rest of us - for our hopes, our aspirations, for the life
chances of all our people;
Independence will be the best thing that ever happens to us.
It is the freedom for our country that we cherish for ourselves as
individuals.
The freedom to make our own decisions.
It is the freedom to choose, for ourselves, as a nation, how we treat
our pensioners.
To invest, not squander, our oil wealth.
To choose between ID cards and more police on the streets.
The freedom to speak with our own voice in the world.
It is the freedom to save our regiments.
And the freedom to rid Scotland, once and for all, of Trident nuclear
weapons.
That's the essence of Independence.
It is normal.
It is cherished and it is fought for the world over.
Don't ever let anyone tell you it is not worth having here in Scotland
too.
Because it is.
And at this election we are going to fight for it.
A vote for the SNP will tell Labour, London and the world that Scotland
is ready to start moving forward again.
Progress this May will set us up for victory in 2007.
A victory that we must win if we are to build up our Parliament, bring
more powers home and lead Scotland to Independence.
Every week I stand opposite Jack McConnell in the Scottish Parliament
and I look at him.
It's a tough job but someone's got to do it.
Though if you think I've got it bad think back to that holiday.
And feel a pang or two of sympathy for Kirsty Wark.
From rugged Jeremy Paxman to Jack McConnell in shorts and white socks.
What a let down.
But, every week, I look at him and I wonder -
What's his vision for Scotland?
He says we're the best small country in the world.
But we are not.
What we have is the potential to be the best small country in the world.
It is what we must strive to become.
But we are not yet there.
Yet Jack McConnell thinks we are - and that's the problem.
Because if he looks around Scotland and sees 1 in 3 kids living in
poverty;
1 in 5 pensioners living in poverty;
Average male life expectancy of 62 in the city of Glasgow;
If he sees all of that and thinks that this is as good as it gets;
If he really thinks that this is the best we can be;
Then he doesn't have the ambition or the vision to lead a sing song, let
alone a nation.
But we do.
Friends, The last six months have been busy.
But they have been exciting too.
For me, fun though it is to take part each week in the political theatre
that is First Minister's Question Time, the best bit has been meeting
people in every part of this country.
People who are proud of Scotland but who know how much better it can be.
People who want something different from politics and from their
politicians.
People who thirst for change.
I tell them that we are different.
We have a vision for our country.
We are ambitious for our nation.
We won't settle for second best.
Scotland matters to these people.
It matters to you and it matters to me.
What we must all do now is make it matter.
There is only one sure way to do that.
It is to put your trust in the SNP.
Help us to make Scotland matter.
Help us to win not just elections, not just government.
Help us to win that most precious prize of all.
Our Independence.
For that is what really matters.
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