Willie Rennie compared the SNP’s plans for Scottish independence as like “Brexit on a rocket to Mars” – ie

It would take a lot of energy, the journey is very long and there is no way back.

In his keynote speech to Liberal Democrat Conference, Willie set out the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ plan to deprive the independence supporting parties of a majority with our plan to put recovery first by investing in mental health, jobs and education.

He also highlighted our idea for a Commission to look at ways of preventing violence against women and girls in all its forms.  We hope that other parties will back it.

Watch here. The text is below:

Liberal Democrats are going to grow in the Scottish Parliamentary Elections on Thursday May 6th.

We are going to gain more MSPs because we have a powerful message: Put Recovery First.

We have a strong team of candidates, including more women in winnable positions than ever before.

We have a record of action – making a difference in parliament and beyond.

But there is a “but”.  We will need to work for these wins.

We need you to spread the message, campaign hard, spend every moment of the next seven weeks making the case to put recovery first.

We put education recovery first when we won £60 million in additional support in the recent Scottish budget for education bounce back.

We put mental health recovery first when we won £120 million of support for mental health.

We put jobs recovery first when we won the case for more grants for business, including the 100% rates relief.

We put climate recovery first when we won Just Transition support for workers in the oil and gas sector in the north east.

And when we won extra support for farming environmental schemes.

On education, mental health, jobs and climate – the priority of the Liberal Democrats for the next five years is to Put Recovery First.

The priority for the SNP for the next five years is to put another independence referendum first.

Reasonable people would agree, no matter what they think about independence, that this is not the moment for another referendum.

But they see in the news that the SNP want a vote by this Christmas.

In the middle of a pandemic, when thousands have lost their lives, thousands more have lost their job and our normal freedoms have been taken from us.

Now is not the moment for that long, divisive, argumentative, exhausting, all consuming event.

An event that would suffocate our country, snuff out debate on other important matters and split our country asunder.

We don’t have to guess what it would be like. We’ve had an independence campaign before.  Families were split, friendships were broken, business was lost.

And we had Brexit. The scars are deep.

Independence would be Brexit Mark 2

Independence would be like Brexit on a rocket to Mars.

It would take a lot of energy, the journey is very long and there is no way back.

That is why I want people in Scotland to put aside our differences on independence and focus on the recovery.

We’ve had enough of bust ups about flags, the name of our country and the relationship with our good neighbours.

We must put recovery first.

Liberal Democrats will put recovery first.

You’ll have seen our First Minister is good on TV.  She talks a good game.  She is good at announcements. That’s all true.

But that’s as far as it goes. Delivery is not so good. After 14 years in power, it’s all wearing a bit thin.

Look at her record.

The First Minister personally sponsored a waiting times guarantee for the NHS. It has been breached 300,000 times since.

She demanded control of social security from Westminster before handing it back to the Conservative run Department of Work and Pensions.

Get this, she declined the chance to take social security from the Conservatives.

The SNP promised Scotland would be the Saudi Arabia of renewables and they pledged 2000 jobs in the Highlands. But after spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money have failed to secure the work and the jobs.

An astonishing level of incompetence that fails to match the rhetoric, squanders public funds and betrays workers.

And the First Minister said, “judge me on education”.

Then she deliberately delayed the OECD report on the state of Scottish education until after the election.

Before the SNP took charge Scottish education was one of the best in the world.

Now it is just average.

If talk was all it took, then Scotland would be a world leader in every field.

If rhetoric created jobs we’d have full employment.

If it was down to promises we’d have no waits on our NHS.

People are fed up with the talk, but that is all the SNP have been good at.

I want to make Scotland a world leader on mental health.

It is a big ambition for the country for the next five years.

But it is more than talk. I have a plan. A plan that will work.

More than 1500 children have been waiting a year or more for specialist help with mental health problems. The number is going up.

We are letting down young people every day of the week.

Our world leading plans will:

•​Create more training places for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists.

•​Provide new bursaries to train counsellors.

•​Establish new community services to give easy access for young people.

•​Restart, and ramp up, mental health first aid training so every workplace can benefit.

Within the last few weeks we got the parliament to vote to declare a mental health crisis, against the wishes of the government.

It’s time for Scotland to put the recovery first and fix our overwhelmed mental health services for good.

Our plan for mental health shows what the Liberal Democrats in Scotland are for.

We put recovery first.

A needle-sharp focus on what makes a difference to people in their daily lives.

Investment in people because they are our greatest asset.

With good people, with healthy minds, we can achieve great things.

 

I want to say something about the abuse of women.

I take it for granted that I can go anywhere, everywhere and at any time.

Through dark streets, up hills and in the countryside.

I will canvass alone for hours on end.

I rarely fear for my safety.

That should be the experience for women.  It’s a woman’s world as much as a man’s.

My wife told me recently she never goes out in the dark.

Women should not have to cower at home to be safe.

I am ashamed that men have created such a culture of fear.

The fear of attack.

The fear of abuse.

The fear of intimidation.

And it is our job to change it.

To give everyone the confidence to go wherever they want whenever they want.

The freedom they deserve.

That is why I was delighted that our Equalities spokesperson Caron Lindsay proposed a commission to look into violence against women and girls, to consider ways to make society more hospitable.

She invited all major parties to commit to it, to examine the issues and make recommendations within the first year of the new parliament.

The Justice Secretary has already agreed to talk.

It’s a great idea and this party is right with her.

We know we can do this.

 

Look at the impact of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland under my leadership.

The investment in mental health.

The expansion of early learning and childcare.

Winning the case for better freedom of information laws.

Stopping the government giving grants to companies like Amazon with no strings.

Speeding up the vaccination programme.

Expanding testing.

Winning financial support for businesses like fishermen, tourism and the self-employed.

Our MSPs have punched above their weight.

With more MSPs we can achieve so much more.

Look at what we have planned next.

Plans to get our education system back up to the best in the world again.

To tackle the climate emergency, bringing green jobs to the country.

Create jobs with a youth guarantee.

Work in partnership with others to build a case for progressive change in Scotland.

Make the case with the new Labour leader Anas Sarwar on issues like reform of the UK.

Because in this time of crisis we must work together with like minds to attract votes back from the SNP and the cause of Independence.

We must build the momentum for change to be attractive to the moderate, progressive people in Scotland who are appalled by Boris Johnson but don’t want to spend the next five years arguing about independence.

I am saying directly to people who have voted SNP that there is another way.

If you are fed up with the divisions in the SNP.

Disturbed by the arguments.

Upset that so many women were let down.

Concerned about whether the First Minister told the truth.

And want a party that has a needle sharp focus on the recovery from this dreadful pandemic.

My appeal is to look at our record on mental, health, education, the police.

The quality of our people, with more women than ever before.

And the hope in our vision.

With the Liberal Democrats under my leadership we can make change.

So with the election only weeks away Scotland is at a crossroads.

With the trauma of the last year our thoughts, our efforts, our attention must be for the recovery.

To bring hope and opportunity for our country.

To work together with progressive forces to change our politics.

To build something better.

For the next five years we must be resolute in our determination to turn this country around.

Liberal Democrats will put recovery first.