Kate Forbes speech to SNP conference

Madainn Mhath 
 
It's the last day of our conference – and it's been a great one here in Aberdeen.  
 
Aberdeen – the great granite city.  
 
The energy capital of Europe, it is the jewel in the crown of our economy.  
 
The North East has powered our economy for decades, 
it has developed and exported cutting edge technology, it is home to Scotland's brightest and best workers.  
 
And billions of pounds in tax revenues generated here have bankrolled the UK Treasury for years.  
 
Those tax revenues, frittered away on unjust wars and pet projects, rather than invested in future generations. 
 
We don't need to ask ‘what if' it had been different?  
 
Because a stone's throw across the North Sea, Norway's oil fund is estimated at just over $2 trillion dollars.  

In Norway,  
 
Child poverty is low.  
 
Welfare support is fair.  
 
They can weather economic instability. 
 
Meanwhile, what's happened here, in the energy capital of Europe, in the last year under Labour?  
 
Higher fuel bills for you and me  
 
Cuts to welfare support for disabled people 
 
And months of worry for pensioners in fuel poverty.  
 
What a contrast to other small independent nations!  
 
Conference, we can't unpick the past. 
 
But we can write a better future – one that will not tolerate fuel poverty in an Energy-rich nation like ours.  
 
But we can only do that, with independence.  
 
Conference, in the last year, Labour have followed the decades-old pattern of exploiting Scotland's energy revenues by extending and increasing the Tories' Energy Profits Levy, making hundreds of workers redundant and creating an unjust transition. 
 
In a classic move by this Labour Government, they accept the 78% tax rate is costing jobs – but they won't do anything about it for another five years. 
 
So we call on the Chancellor today – 
don't wait, replace the destructive fiscal regime at the next Budget with a fair one. 
One that protects workers and enables the energy transition.  
 
I know there are some people right now who are apprehensive about the future – and so I want to speak directly to you: 
we have your back. 

We get it.  
 
Conference, the SNP will always stand side by side with our workers.  
 
We are lucky. 

We are a twice blessed nation – with the discovery of oil and gas 40 years ago, and the enormous opportunities of renewable energy today.  
 
It is not a binary choice between our past and our future. It is a transition. And it must be a just one. 
 
The past saw our energy industry bankroll the UK Treasury, but the SNP will champion fairer investment directly in communities with the growth of renewable energy. 
 
The past saw thousands of workers in good, well paid jobs, but the SNP's focus will see thousands more in our supply chain, reindustrialising and restoring our manufacturing base.  
 
Because while other parties look backwards, we are looking forwards.  
 
Conference, that is leadership.  
 
We are leading the world in the innovation, technology and commercialisation of renewable energy.  
 
That is why it is so bewildering that the UK Government would rather focus on the distraction of new nuclear, rather than on Scotland's renewable potential. 
 
It will take longer.   
 
It will be more expensive.  
 
It will increase bills.   
 
And it will leave our communities to deal with dangerous nuclear waste. 
 
So Conference, let us be clear with the Labour Government today – Scotland will not be the UK's nuclear playground. 
 
Just last week, 
we saw, for the first time global renewable energy generation surpassing coal as the world's biggest source of electricity. 
 
And I am clear that in Scotland our natural resources – our wind and water – must deliver benefits for every Scottish citizen.   
 
It must create good, well paid jobs for you – so you don't have to worry about feeding your family or heating your home.  
 
It must leave a legacy of better infrastructure, so our ports, harbours and roads are upgraded and expanded.  
 
And it must deliver national economic prosperity that lifts up every community and eradicates child poverty - for good.
 
Much of the opportunity is in the supply chain – in the small and medium Scottish businesses and the ports and harbours at the heart of our communities.  
 
That is why we are investing £500 million in the supply chain, leveraging three times that much from the private sector.  
 
In Kishorn, on the Highland west coast, our investment in the port is bringing families back to a community that felt forgotten.  
 
Kishorn was a thriving industrial site in the 60s and 70s, creating work for hundreds of locals who might otherwise have left.  
But it grew quiet when work dried up in the 80s.  
 
No lights on in hundreds of homes.  
 
Fewer children in the local primary school.  
 
Businesses struggling to stay afloat.  
 
Persistent depopulation.  
 
An unjust transition. 
 
But under the SNP, 

that is changing. 
 
As we speak, it's a hive of activity as contractors on site reclaim land and build a new quay for the pipeline of work in renewables.  
 
Hundreds of new jobs. 
Conference, that is leadership.
 
And on the west coast, our investment in Ardesier, with partners, is developing one of Europe's largest energy facilities for offshore wind.  

Not just the biggest in Scotland. But one of the biggest in Europe.  
 
Conference, that is leadership. 
 
And in Ayrshire, in an area of lower wages and falling population, XLCC is building the UK's largest subsea cable factory at the former Hunterston site in Ayrshire.  
 
The real benefit is the investment, 
in training the next generation.  
 
Under the SNP - 
More apprenticeships.
Better wages, new jobs. Hope. 
 
Conference, that is leadership.  
In 2014, we were told that Scotland couldn't afford to be independent.  
 
Conference, I tell you today that we can't afford not to be independent.
 
And this time, 
 
Our economic prosperity must not be squandered by a distant UK Government.  
 
This time our success must be shared;  
 
Our wealth must leave nobody behind;  
 
Our future must be better than our past.  
 
Conference, if only we could just see ourselves as the rest of the world does, we would have all the self-belief and self-confidence we need to choose independence.   
 
In the run-up to the next election, every party will set out their strategy on our economy.  
 
Times are tough. Your bills keep rising but average real wages in the UK have flat-lined, with almost no change since the financial crisis almost 20 years ago. 
 
When it comes to inequality, growth, 
and productivity, 
in the UK, these are not temporary problems, 
they are terminal.  
 
Almost two decades of Westminster austerity has undermined living standards, hampered productivity growth, and stifled innovation.  
 
The current UK system displays a persistent level of geographic inequality, with an unhealthy and unstable reliance on London. 
 
So what's Labour's solution to these terminal problems?  
 
Labour's ambition for Scotland is to be more like England.  
 
For our national Parliament at Holyrood to mirror Westminster.  
 
For Edinburgh to emulate London, and Glasgow to replicate Manchester.  
 
They claim that is what would deliver economic success.  
 
Well, conference, let me just clarify that point.  
 
The latest ONS statistics say, that GDP per head in Edinburgh is higher than in London  
 
And GDP in Greater Glasgow is higher than in Greater Manchester.  
 
I hate to break it to Labour, but trying to be more like England would actually make Scotland poorer. 
 
And when it comes to workers, we know what Labour will do.  
 
The closure of the Grangemouth refinery was a dark day in Scotland's industrial heritage. 
 
Only months before then, Anas Sarwar stood in front of a television camera and told the nation that his Westminster colleagues would “step in and save the jobs.”  
 
But as soon as Labour got into Government, they did neither.  
 
Maybe Sarwar got mixed up – because Labour did indeed ‘step in and save the jobs' ---- but not at Grangemouth. 
At Scunthorpe.  
 
One site saved, one site abandoned by Labour.  
 
In contrast, workers can depend on the SNP to do everything within our power to save jobs.  
 
Back in June - proud Scottish bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis announced a plan which would have discontinued production at Falkirk, and suspended production at Larbert.
 
400 roles were at risk of redundancy.  
 
Scotland faced the prospect of losing our bus manufacturing capacity for good. 
 
A century of automotive excellence in central Scotland would have ended. 
 
The SNP Government would not let that happen.  
 
Whilst the Labour Party chased headlines, carped from the sidelines, and claimed that metro mayors would save the day, the SNP got to work.  
 
With the support of the Trade Unions and the company, we reached agreement on the principles of a company-run furlough scheme.  
 
This was the first time ever that the Scottish Government supported a furlough scheme.  
 
It was an innovative and exceptional intervention, which will act as a bridge to sustainably support hundreds of Scottish jobs. 
 
Conference – 
that is leadership. 
 
In a few short months, the people of Scotland will go to the polls to choose their next government. 
 
At that election, we have a choice – to rely on Labour's empty promises that let down the workers of Grangemouth and Alexander Dennis – or to vote for a party, the SNP who will always stand up for our people and a First Minister - John Swinney - who stands head and shoulders above the opposition.
 
The choice is stark: empty slogans with Labour or a proud record with the SNP.  
 
Under the SNP, we are the fastest growing start up nation in Europe, with a strong base of entrepreneurial activity and education. 
 
Tech investment grew by 120% between 2020 and 2024. 
 
We built the Scottish National Investment Bank, to support and de-risk investment in housing, net-zero, and innovation.  
We pioneered the Techscaler programme, which I firmly believe will go down as one of the greatest economic interventions in the last decade.   
 
We introduced Free bus travel for young people, reducing the cost of getting to work, college or university. 
 
And removed peak fares on our railways to support workers and get people spending money in our pubs, restaurants, shops, and high streets.  
 
Our workers – teachers, nurses and police officers – have the highest starting salary in the UK. 
 
The Scottish Child Payment – a payment not available anywhere else in the UK, which is 
directly lifting children out of poverty.  

And Conference, that is leadership. 

Conference, I am proud of what this party has delivered for our economy.  
 
We are laying the foundations of an independent Scotland. 
 
With the limited powers of devolution, the SNP has always tried to deal with the immediacy of the economic challenges, while also focusing on long term opportunities. 
 
While the Unionists want to limit Scotland's ambitions with a parochial focus on a broken UK economy, our horizons are broader. 
 
We look beyond our borders to the small, agile, independent economies like Ireland, Denmark and Finland. 
 
Countries which thrive, while the UK languishes behind. 
 
These nations show us what is possible for Scotland.  They are a vision of Scotland's future, while Westminster is the shadow of the past. 
 
Conference, this is not as good as it gets.  
 
A better future is possible with the fresh start of independence and that is exactly what the SNP will offer the people of Scotland. 
 
Conference, there is one immediate risk to our ambition for the economy. And it worries me.  
 
During my time in Government, I have spoken to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of businesses, both small and large.  
 
They are ambitious, they are investing, and they are excited to grow.  
 
But in order to grow, they need workers – just as the Labour party tries to out-reform Reform and pull up the drawbridge on migration.   

There has been a political consensus in Scotland for many years about the value of people choosing to come and live, work or study in Scotland.  
 
That political consensus has been shattered by Reform, the Tories and Labour.  
 
And conference, for the sake of our values and the sake of our economy, the SNP totally and utterly rejects the depressing, denigrating narrative against migration. 

We need people to come here, and we need them to contribute to our society, our communities, and our economy. 
 
The SNP will always offer a warm welcome. 
 
Conference, that is leadership. 

I want to end with a thank you.  
 
It has been an enormous privilege to represent the people of Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch for almost a decade.  
 
It is a vast area as you know – but so special.  
 
Canna, Rum, Muck and Eigg.   
The Ardnamurchan peninsula.  
Raasay and Skye.  
 
All the villages south and north of Loch Ness.  
 
Fort William, under the shadow of Ben Nevis.  
 
Glencoe and Kinlochleven.  
 
Kingussie, Aviemore, Dalwhinnie and Newtonmore nestled in the Cairngorms.  
 
The mart town of Dingwall and the fertile soil of the Black Isle.  
 
The landscapes are breathtaking and the people are resilient.   
 
It has been a privilege beyond measure to serve these communities.  
 
And I am deeply proud to have been part of the SNP Government, as Finance Secretary and Deputy First Minister, which has secured many of the economic building blocks to smooth our transition to an independent nation. 
 
But I'll let you into a secret as I close. My dream job was always to serve as Minister for Gaelic. The language of my forebears, stigmatised and beaten out of them, but passed on to me through Gaelic Medium Education.  
 
And one of my last acts in Government has been establishing both Gaelic and Scots as official languages through the Scottish Languages Act.  
 
If anything symbolises our journey as a nation it is the increasing self-confidence of Gaelic speakers.  
 
Young Scots learning and living in a language that used to bring scorn.  
 
This week, at the Mod in Fort William, thousands of people will showcase the best of Scotland's arts and culture – music, poetry, sport and art.  
 
The numbers of participants are growing every year.  

Conference, the SNP has always believed in the talents and creativity of our people, and after  18 years in Government, our young people are prouder than ever of their culture. 

The SNP has always believed in the talents and creativity of our people.  
 
We stand taller, proud of what we've achieved and inspired by our future.  
 
Proud of our languages, our customs and our culture.  

We don't believe that we are any better than other independent nations, 

but we do believe that we are just as good.  
 
Self-confidence. 

Self-belief. And Hope.  
 
Thank you, Conference, for always inspiring me.