First Minister insists independence will be essential to Scotland's Covid-19 recovery

Nicola Sturgeon has claimed independence is “essential” to help with the task of rebuilding Scotland after coronavirus.

Scotland's First Minister said she will use next May's Holyrood election to try to win a mandate to hold an independence referendum “in the early part of the new Parliament”.

She also announced the Scottish Government will give all health and social care workers a “thank-you” payment for their efforts during the pandemic.

While her opponents have criticised her for speaking about the issue during the pandemic, the SNP leader said in her closing speech to her party's conference on Monday: “Independence is not a distraction from the task of post-Covid reconstruction.

“It is essential to getting it right.”

She said this is important “if we want to make sure the country we rebuild is the one we want it to be, with kindness, compassion, fairness, equality and enterprise at its heart, and not one built in the image of Boris Johnson and his band of Brexiteers”.

The First Minister said she accepts “many” Scots would “prefer a stronger Scottish Parliament to independence” but said the “hard truth” is this is not on offer from Westminster, as she accused the Tories of trying to take powers away from Holyrood.

With the UK's Brexit transition period due to finish at the end of December, she criticised the UK Government for not extending it.

She claimed Brexit would be a “huge, damaging change at the best of times” but added that in “these most difficult of times it is unforgivable”.

Ms Sturgeon said she will use next year’s election to seek voters' authority for a second independence referendum - something the Prime Minister has repeatedly said he will not grant.

The First Minister also revealed full-time health and social care workers will receive a £500 payment, with a proportionate amount for part-time staff.

She urged Mr Johnson not to tax workers on the cash, which she said is a “one-off thank-you” to be paid this year to NHS and care employees for their extraordinary service in this toughest of years''.

In her address, she also revealed a £100 million package from the Scottish Government to help those who have been left struggling this winter because of coronavirus.

It means all families with a child in receipt of free school meals get a payment of £100.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said afterwards that Ms Sturgeon made a series of SNP promises brought to you by Rishi Sunak's spending''.

He added: “All weekend she's been talking up another divisive referendum next year while we're in the middle of a pandemic. It's completely out of touch with people across Scotland.”

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