Conference, it’s good to be back in the great city of Glasgow again.
It was in this city that I joined the SNP when I was barely a teenager and I feel very privileged to return today as someone who has been lucky enough to serve as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment as part of the first ever SNP Government.
Japan
My environmental responsibilities often mean I have to respond on behalf of the Government to events caused by nature, but none of us can begin to imagine the scale of devastation that is being experienced in Japan.
I know that as we meet here today we are all thinking of the many millions affected by the tsunami – we stand ready to help the victims in any way we can, and I know all our thoughts are with them today.
Introduction
Conference, just think, we met here four years ago as we prepared for the 2007 election.
As we kick off the campaign for a second term, we can look back with pride at our achievements.
We have an SNP Government – not an Executive – that has helped families and communities and, at the same time has steered our nation through some tough economic times.
And everything we have done has been underpinned by principle, and a belief in Scotland’s potential.
I have been lucky enough to have worked with a great team in the Scottish, Westminster and European Parliaments, as well as in Council chambers throughout Scotland.
And I want to pay tribute to each one of you for continuing to take our message to millions of people.
In Moray, we have been knocking doors, and I can’t wait to get back home to campaign!
I want to also to pay tribute to our outstanding Minister for the Environment and Climate Change.
It is a privilege to work alongside Roseanna Cunningham who has been working tirelessly on policies that benefit all of Scotland including tremendous work on our world leading climate change agenda.
I also want to ask you to pay tribute to our excellent team of Parliamentary Liaison Officers Aileen Campbell and Rob Gibson, as well as Maureen Watt and her fantastic work as Convener of the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee in the Scottish Parliament.
You know – I look forward to Aileen being elected the constituency member for Clydesdale, Rob the constituency member for Caithness and Sutherland and Maureen the constituency member for Aberdeen South.
They have all been fantastic champions for their local communities, working with the Government, delivering for rural Scotland.
That’s why, on May 5th, I am confident rural Scotland will place its trust in the SNP.
Fuel Prices
Our track record is in sharp contrast to Westminster’s.
Take fuel prices.
Our rural communities are suffering from spiralling fuel costs, crippling businesses and hitting household budgets.
The pre-election promises made by the Tories and Lib Dems have evaporated into thin air.
They promised us a fuel duty regulator, and discounts in rural areas.
Conference, at a time when high oil prices are delivering a bonanza to the UK Treasury, it seems only right that some of that money should come back to our rural communities who rely so heavily on fuel.
Conference, energy rich Scotland should not be paying some of the highest fuel prices in Europe.
Rural Scotland A Priority
We will always stand shoulder to shoulder with rural communities.
The SNP in Government has made rural Scotland a priority.
We can be proud of our track record.
Yes, there are many challenges, – I’ve mentioned fuel prices – but our rural industries have emerged from the recession in good heart.
In fact, in terms of economic growth, our primary production sectors – fishing, farming and forestry – are out performing the rest of the economy!
Food and Drink
And the SNP is making a real difference.
If you need evidence, just look at the success of our food and drink industry under the SNP.
The sector is now worth £11 billion and is showing record growth.
Our first national food and drink policy has been a staggering success.
Retail sales of Scottish brands in England, Scotland and Wales went up by 30%, that’s £425 million, between May 2007 and May 2010.
And food and drink exports grew by 15% between 2007 and 2009.
Between 2008 and 2009 alone the sector grew by massive £1bn – yes £1bn!
Over the past four years, I have been privileged to visit many successful food companies supplying the increasing demand for good wholesome local food.
The SNP is now working with our hotels, restaurants, shops, visitor attractions and public sector, to turn them all into showcases for Scottish produce.
And we have helped open up new overseas markets for our massively successful Scotch whisky industry and aquaculture sector.
It seems the rest of the world’s appetite for Scotland’s larder is getting stronger all the time!
Our food and drink sectors are a national success – an SNP success – and we need another four years in office to continue that progress.
Farmers
Of course, the food we eat and our national drink rely on quality raw materials supplied by our primary producers especially our farmers and crofters.
Delegates, the men and women on our farms and crofts deserve our support - they contribute to our economy, maintain our famous landscapes and put food on the table. Despite today’s harsh conditions, they’ll still be out feeding the livestock and managing the land.
Conference, in November the Farmer’s Guardian ran a competition to find out the best place for farming in the UK – do you know what … Scotland won!
A farmer who had moved over the border into Scotland explained that things were better here, because he didn’t have to deal with DEFRA!
And more and more farmers, like him, are telling me that, at long last, they have a Government in Scotland that genuinely cares.
And just as we have stood by our farmers, through thick and thin, over the past four years, we need to be there for them in the crucial four years ahead.
2013 brings a new Common Agricultural Policy – a policy that delivers valuable support for farming – support, without which, many farms in Scotland would go to the wall because the supermarkets continue to swallow too much of every pound we spend on food.
Perhaps, if the UK ever gets around to delivering the supermarket ombudsman they promised it will redress the balance of power in the supply chain.
There is now huge anxiety amongst farmers after the short-sighted Coalition Government started to call for Scotland’s farm payments to be scrapped.
The Tories and Lib Dems seem to forget that the hills of Scotland are a far cry from the golden acres of the Home Counties.
Friends, the UK’s farming policy is a recipe for disaster and would lead to the second highland clearances.
Conference, the other parties don’t understand the countryside – they don’t understand Scottish farming - and our farmers need the SNP in Government to stand up for their interests.
Fishing
And Conference, just as we need farmers and crofters to work the land, we need our fishermen to harvest food from our seas.
Our fishing grounds sustain tens of thousands of jobs in catching and processing a healthy and nutritious food resource.
Prior to the SNP Government, our fishermen had got used to UK and Scottish administrations viewing their industry as “expendable” and as a low priority.
In four short years, the SNP has placed the industry at the heart of Government and in the vanguard of change in Europe.
Scots fishermen now have the reputation as the most sustainable and forward thinking in Europe, winning plaudits from environmentalists for international leadership on fisheries conservation.
And now, at long last, the scandal of fish discards is being seriously addressed.
There is no greater obscenity than the waste that occurs day in day out in Europe’s seas.
Since 2008, our fishermen have halved their discards of white fish - more than in any other country. The proportion of Scottish Fisheries with Marine Stewardship Council accreditation now exceeds 50%.
Discards is one of many symptoms of the broken Common Fisheries Policy – but 2013 brings the once in a generation opportunity to bring the existing policy to an end.
And Conference, our guiding principle throughout the negotiations will be that decision making over our fishing grounds must be returned to Scotland – where it belongs!
Our Party – the SNP – is the only Party that strains every sinew for our fishing communities.
Our fishermen need the SNP in Government to fight their corner in the crucial years ahead.
Scotland’s Marine Wealth
I pay tribute to all who work on our seas.
And we must manage our marine resource for future generations.
That’s why we passed the first Marine Act to protect our seas.
Our seas provide us with massive resources, and will create many more jobs in the future.
And Conference, that’s exactly why this is the wrong time for the UK Government to play fast and loose with our maritime rescue services.
Our Nimrods have been scrapped, our emergency tugs are under threat, our search and rescue helicopters have been surrounded by uncertainty.
And now the UK is proposing to reduce the number of our coastguard co-ordination centres!
No wonder our coastal communities are up in arms!
Conference, we are a maritime nation, we can’t afford the UK Government to put lives at risk.
So I can confirm to you today, that when the SNP responds to the current consultation, we will tell the UK that it can’t be trusted to look after our coastguard.
But the Scottish Parliament can,
And that’s why the coastguard should now be devolved to Scotland!
Renewables and Crown Estate
One reason why we are set to use our seas more and more is because Scotland has won the natural lottery twice – firstly, with oil and gas – an industry that is still buoyant.
And now we are set to exploit our massive renewable energy resources.
But Conference, we must not miss out this time around.
Offshore renewables will not only generate tens of thousands of jobs and clean energy for our nation.
It will generate billions of revenues in the decades ahead.
Revenues that will by-pass Scotland unless the current arrangements change.
That’s why the SNP Government is calling on the UK to devolve the Crown Estate to Scotland – it’s an outrage that our communities face being frozen out of the green energy revolution on their doorstep.
Conference, let’s make sure that Scotland’s communities don’t miss out again!
Let’s re-elect an SNP Government to campaign for control of the Crown Estate!
Climate Change
Our renewables potential is essential for meeting our ambitious climate change targets.
Conference, one of our crowning achievements is the Climate Change Act, setting some of the world’s most ambitious targets for reducing emissions.
When future generations look back, they will learn that it was the SNP in Government that set Scotland on the road to a low carbon society.
Over the next Government we will build the low carbon market to £12bn creating tens of thousands of new jobs.
And we will continue to equip our communities with the resources to help them play their role.
Our Climate Challenge Fund has been a huge success. Grass-roots action to tackle a global issue.
And today, I can confirm that a re-elected SNP Government will continue the Climate Challenge Fund to build on its success.
And not only that, we also want to inspire the next generation to play their role in building a clean future and I can announce that we will also establish a Climate Challenge Fund for Young People.
Environment
Conference, we need to tackle climate change to protect not only our economy but our environment.
Only last week, we passed our Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill – a bill that struck a balance between safeguarding our natural assets and the needs of our rural industries.
And we have also set Scotland on the road to becoming a zero waste society. Under the SNP, recycling is now approaching 40% - prior to devolution recycling was barely 5%.
And our ambition for a Zero Waste Scotland is making a real difference.
We met our landfill targets early, and in the next Parliament, we will be introducing landfill bans and mandatory collection of food waste, to ensure that we treat waste as a valuable resource from which value can be recovered - to help us reach our renewable heat and electricity targets.
Yet, as we seek to conserve our precious environment, others seek to damage it.
So it’s now time to send out a message to those who don’t look after our environment:
Such as those who illegally kill wildlife, or are responsible for Illegal landfill, fly-tipping or pollution especially where organised crime is involved.
Last month a new team of specialist prosecutors were appointed to handle Wildlife and Environmental Crime but we need to do more.
Too often our agencies spend huge resources tracking down the culprits only for the courts to impose inadequate fines.
So, Conference, we’re going to change that.
To show that we are serious about protecting Scotland’s environment, anyone who damages it will soon face more serious punishment.
Conference, I can confirm today that in the next Parliament, we are going impose much tougher penalties for those who damage our environment.
Conclusion
Colleagues the SNP in Government is making a real and positive difference to Scotland, its environment and its people.
Our rural population is growing, rural employment is growing and our spectacular environment is getting better.
We have given our rural industries a strong voice at home and abroad.
We have done much more for Scotland in four years, than Labour and the Liberals achieved in twice that time.
We are going into these elections with our heads held high and with a positive track record of achievement in Government.
We could do so much more if we had more powers.
We could so much more if we were an independent nation state.
But to continue on our journey, we need to take our message to the people
We have the best candidate for First Minister;
The best team;
The experience
And the best policies;
And we have a vision
Let’s win the right to continue to serve Scotland.
Let’s win on May 5th!
