Leader tells party to do more to persuade voters but offers no timetable for new Scottish referendum

Nicola Sturgeon has told the Scottish National party conference that Brexit makes independence more likely than ever, as she challenged activists to increase their efforts to persuade voters across the country of the case for leaving the UK.

Insisting that Westminster’s chaotic handling of Brexit over the past two years made her “more confident than ever that Scotland will be independent”, a buoyant Sturgeon told activists in Glasgow “our task now is to step up our work to update and strengthen the case”, but did not offer any specific timetable for staging a second referendum.

“We must show people that with the powers of independence we can fully realise our country’s vast potential. And take our case to every home, community and workplace across the land.”

Describing independence as “the opposite of Brexit”, the SNP leader and first minister said that Scotland was already a beacon for progressive values. “Brexit is about turning inwards, pulling up the drawbridge, retreating from the world. Independence is about being open, outward looking, aspiring to play our full part in the world around us.”

Arguing that the consequences of Brexit had killed off previous arguments against independence, she reminded delegates: “Labour and the Tories promised us in 2014 that Westminster would provide strength and security. That boast was at the very heart of their Project Fear campaign. Now it lies in the Brexit ruins. Westminster hasn’t delivered strength and security. It has brought chaos, incompetence and confusion.”

She summarised the Conservatives’ handling of Brexit by paraphrasing Winston Churchill and saying: “Never has so much been lost by so many to satisfy so few.”

Acknowledging the frustration among some activists at the lack of timescale for a second vote, Sturgeon maintained that “the future relationship between the UK and the EU will determine the context in which Scotland would become independent”. She has previously stated that she would update her party on her thinking around a second vote after May revealed the terms of a Brexit deal.

But there was an audible intake of breath in the conference hall as she cautioned: “But as we wait – impatiently, at times, I know – for this phase of negotiations to conclude and for the fog of Brexit to clear, be in no doubt about this. The last two years have shown why Scotland needs to be independent.”

Earlier in the day, Michael Russell, the Scottish government’s veteran Brexit secretary, appeared to address those supporters who have called for a second independence referendum before next year’s March deadline, warning delegates that independence “isn’t just about grabbing a lifeboat in choppy and dangerous seas”.

Polling on the eve of the conference continued to show no clear majority for independence. A Panelbase survey for the Sunday Times put backing for independence at 48% in the event of a no-deal Brexit, while an SNP-commissioned snapshot of voting intention also found that 50% of respondents would support independence if another referendum took place after the UK had left the EU. A march by tens of thousands of independence supporters in Edinburgh on Saturday increased pressure on Sturgeon to offer a clear route to a second referendum.

Describing the march as “wonderful”, Sturgeon told the packed conference hall: “To those who say there is no demand for Scotland to have a choice over our future, I say – the polls and the people are telling a different story. Our job is to take that passion and blend it with pragmatism, perseverance and patience to persuade those not yet persuaded. If we do that, then believe me – the momentum for independence will be unstoppable.”

Dismissing the Labour conference two weeks ago as an “SNP policy tribute act”, Sturgeon also showcased the Scottish government’s work on welfare reform, climate change and fair work, announcing investment in an Advanced Manufacturing Fund for small- and medium-sized businesses, a pay rise for student nurses and further funding for wraparound support for rough sleepers.

She set out a new presumption for business grants and funding to require commitments to living wage, zero-hours contracts and gender pay criteria, and confirmed that the Scottish government would investigate the feasibility of a state-owned National Infrastructure Company, an idea brought forward by SNP activists at the party’s summer conference.

During a conference with minimal discussion of Brexit or independence on the main conference agenda, Sturgeon confirmed in a series of media interviews that the SNP’s 35 MPs would back a second EU referendum in a Commons vote, regardless of whether her party’s demands for special conditions such as a guarantee of a new Scottish independence vote are met, while they would almost certainly refuse to support any withdrawal deal obtained by Theresa May in November.