The first minister has said the Scottish government will freeze tuition fees "at zero" and confirmed that the one-percent public sector pay cap will be removed. She underscored that the healthcare system, the NHS, will always be in public hands as long as the SNP is in office. Sturgeon said Scotland was going to establish a non-profit energy company. She set "an ambitious target" of renewable energy to be bought wholesale and generated in Scotland.
The politician stressed her opposition to nuclear weapons and said the SNP is "internationalist to the core". Sturgeon described it as "the party of independence", adding that the case of sovereignty does not depend on Brexit.
"Scotland should have the right to choose our future when the terms of Brexit are clear… we can, we must, and we will always make the case for independence," the first minister said.
She slammed the European Union's silence over Madrid's crackdown on the Catalonian independence referendum.
Sturgeon began her keynote speech by producing a box of Strepsils, thus following lawmaker Mhairi Black who poked fun at PM Theresa May at the same conference.
Nicola Sturgeon pokes fun at Theresa May by getting out a packet of Strepsils at the start of her conference speech pic.twitter.com/q0lla3rKP1
— 5News (@5_News) 10 октября 2017 г.
During the conference, SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson, speaking prior to Sturgeon, said there would be a new vote on independence from Britain.
Scotland held an independence referendum three years ago. The voting saw the majority casting ballots in favor of remaining a part of the United Kingdom.
