16:16

Nicola Sturgeon has just finished her SNP conference speech. She was relaxed and jokey, enjoying numerous ovations, despite not actually saying much new about the central question of independence.

She confirmed that she would ask the Westminster government for the legal powers, a section 30 order, to hold another referendum by the end of the year and that she wants to hold that referendum next year. But she offered little on what happens when Westminster says no to her request – as Boris Johnson has said he will on numerous occasions and Labour has swithered about, most recently with John McDonnell saying there would be no pact with the SNP over a second vote.

Instead Sturgeon threw the responsibility back on Westminster, insisting:

The question should be demanded of the Westminster parties – what gives you any right to deny people in Scotland our ability to choose our own future?

She also repeated her warning to Jeremy Corbyn in the event of Labour seeking SNP support in another hung parliament:

If you don’t respect Scotland’s right to choose our own future at a time of our own choosing, don’t even bother picking up the phone.

While none of this was new, these are perhaps the messages for the people in the hall. She started with a scathing attack on the “crude populism” sweeping the globe, singling out Donald Trump and Johnson for especial derision. I’d suggest that this is a message for beyond the hall. Already SNP ministers have spent conference insisting on the importance of a legal and internationally recognised independence referendum. This attack on populism, and the reassurance that the SNP thinks and acts differently, is likewise an attempt to project the image of an outward-looking, international, serious party, particularly to voters anxious not just at Brexit chaos but also this rightwing populist trend.

Sturgeon got particular laughs for this passage towards the end of the speech, as she called for Scotland to “reclaim our independence”.

I don’t know about you but I’m utterly sick of Westminster. I’m sick of Brexit. And I’ve had more than enough of people like Jacob Rees-Mogg lording it over us while lounging across the benches of the House of Commons as if he owns the place. The people of Scotland are seeing all of this for what it is. A broken political system.