John Swinney’s big problem is the last 18 years - leader comment

“Decline, decay and despair with Westminster government, or hope, optimism and ambition with Scottish self-government.”

That may have been red meat for the conference, but the Scottish voting public could well be forgiven for being sceptical. The best way for the SNP to build support for independence is, as we have said many times before, to demonstrate competence in government, and to deliver for the people of Scotland within the powers it has.

But when public services are, through perception or fact, in a worse state north of the Border than elsewhere in the UK, it becomes a particularly difficult argument to win.

We would not expect an SNP conference to focus on anything else than the main reason for the party’s existence, but the party hierarchy must know that positive signs of delivery, growing the economy, encouraging investment, and raising living standards across the board are the things that will make the difference.

Mr Swinney said yesterday that he was “just getting started”.

“When I lead the SNP into the election next year, I will be seeking my own mandate from the people of Scotland. A mandate to fundamentally transform our country for the long term.”

Voters could well be forgiven for asking what the party has done with such a mandate for the last 18 years.

There were some key pledges yesterday in relation to the care sector and GP appointments, but no real sense of what exactly will be different this time round. The inconvenient fact for Mr Swinney is the SNP has had nearly two decades with huge devolved powers to improve the lives of Scots. He will need to go some way to convince many that the next five years will finally deliver.