Bullish Alex Salmond tells conference: Scotland is in the driving seat

First minister says ‘days of Westminster politicians telling Scotland what to do or what to think are over’ Alex Salmond has launched a fierce attack on the UK government, saying the future of Scotland will not be determined by Westminster. The Scottish first minister used his speech to the Scottish National party annual conference in Inverness to send the Westminster a stark message. “The days of Westminster politicians telling Scotland what to do or what to think are over,” he said. “The Scottish people will set the agenda for the future.” Salmond declared: “No politician, and certainly no London politician, will determine the future of the Scottish nation. “The prime minister should hear this loud and clear. “The people of Scotland – the sovereign people of Scotland – are now in the driving seat.” The conference is the SNP’s first since the party’s landslide victory in May’s Holyrood elections, when the nationalists became the first ever party to secure an overall majority in the Scottish parliament. Salmond said that win had given his party the “greatest ever mandate of the devolution era”. That election victory means a referendum will be held on Scottish independence. While no date for such a vote has yet been set, Nationalists have pledged it will take place in the second half of the Scottish parliament’s five-year term. The speech by Salmond marked the start of the SNP’s campaign ahead of that referendum. Ahead of the referendum, Salmond said that next month he would ask MSPs at Holyrood to endorse Scotland’s Claim of Right. The original Claim of Right dates back to 1988 and declared the “sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs”. Nationalists believe that by endorsing this, MSPs will emphasise that a referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future is something for the Scottish parliament to deliver. The Scottish government has previously declared its willingness to consider having an option of Scotland gaining further short of independence on the ballot paper in the referendum. Salmond said that this “devo-max” option was a “legitimate proposal”, and that fiscal responsibility and enhanced economic powers could “allow us to control our own resources, introduce competitive business tax and fair personal taxation”. But he still described this option as being “not good enough”, adding: “Even with economic powers trident nuclear missiles would still be on the river Clyde, we could still be forced to spill blood in illegal wars like Iraq, and Scotland would still be excluded from the Councils of Europe and the world.” While Westminster has proposed further powers for the devolved Holyrood administration in its Scotland bill, Salmond said this was “unloved, uninspiring, not even understood by its own proponents”. And he claimed the coalition “hadn’t even gone through the motions of considering the views of the Scottish government” and others north of the border on the bill. After David Cameron promised to govern Scotland with respect, Salmond claimed that respect agenda now “lies dead in their throats”. He said: “This is Westminster’s agenda of disrespect – not of disrespect to the SNP but a fundamental disrespect for Scotland.” Almost 1,600 party members packed the main hall at the Eden Court theatre conference venue, and also filled five overspill rooms for Salmond’s keynote addresse. They heard the first minister launch a fresh attack on the UK government over its decision to abandon plans for the UK’s first coal-fired power plant with technology to capture and store carbon emissions at Longannet in Fife. Salmond accused Westminster of having “betrayed the future of Longannet”.He also made a renewed claim for Scotland to have control over energy and its revenues, saying that Westminster had “coined in” £300bn from North Sea oil and gas over the last 40 years. Salmond told the conference the North Sea would continue to yield oil and gas for the next four decades “at least” and added: “London has had its turn out of Scottish oil and gas. Let the next 40 years be for the people of Scotland.” Scottish National party (SNP) Scottish politics Alex Salmond Scotland guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.