It is great to be here.

700 miles from home; but very much at home.

Fresh from a great leadership contest in the summer; but ready for the future.

Grateful to so many people across the decades of the past who have built our party;

And to so many more in the future who will take us further and higher and stronger.

And, at this conference in particular, we can pay such a special tribute to those Liberal giants Ray Michie and Russell Johnston; who worked and worked with us and for us; who inspired so many to join our party and to support it through their whole lives; and who between them captured the very heart of public service and service in the Liberal cause.

They achieved great things and their memory will shine with all of us for a generation.

Our thanks to them.

I don’t know how good you are with sub-atomic particles; but I want to talk about the Scottish Conservative Party.

Because what happened in Switzerland this week started to remind me of the Scottish election last year.

“Vote for us”, said the Tories, “and we’ll put a stop to the SNP and separation”.

“Vote for us”, said the SNP, “And we will protect you from David Cameron”.
And so they set off at each other like opposing protons in an alpine tunnel.
Faster and louder every day.

But at the moment of glorious truth; when the noise stopped and we looked inside the box;

Far from spectacular, energetic conflict and destruction, those two parties had lumped themselves together.

Not quite in a quantum physics way – more like lukewarm chewing gum.
But they’ve stayed stuck together ever since.

You don’t have to be Einstein to be repelled by these unimaginable forces.
And this is now getting serious. Just let me give you a glimpse of how it works.

On a Friday in late August, Alex Salmond himself decided to tell the newspapers - out of the blue - that whilst Scotland didn’t like Mrs Thatcher’s social policies, Scotland “did not mind the economic side so much”.

And just two days later David Cameron told the newspapers that he was thinking about letting the SNP Government have 400 million pounds to help pay for local income tax.

And that sums up what’s wrong with this seedy political fusion between the SNP and the Conservatives.

If this was American politics then you would observe that the only difference between Alex Salmond and Annabel Goldie is lipstick.

The Conservatives promise to pay cash and the SNP promise to say whatever the Tories want to hear.

Neither of those parties does humility. Otherwise they both should be ashamed.

Well, I tell you this.

There’s one place not even the SNP will dare to repeat that they “didn’t mind” Mrs Thatcher’s economic policies.

And that’s in Glenrothes in Fife.

Coal-mining Fife;

Ship building Fife;

Manufacturing Fife;

Brought to its knees in the 1980s by Mrs Thatcher.

And if the SNP think they can get away with looking the other way and pretending it didn’t happen, then they are wrong.

Liberal Democrat candidate Harry Wills - and all of us - will remind them.
Like the people of Glenrothes, we did mind.

We don’t forget.

We don’t forgive.

That’s why we will go to Glenrothes; to get that message out for Harry Wills.

When people in Glenrothes vote – and when Scotland votes – it should choose a party that understands the past.

But one that also understands the needs of today.

So as we head towards the General Election, whenever David Milliband decides to call it, people will be looking for a party that understands their needs; that offers solutions to their problems; and that is ready to lead - across Scotland.

I made it clear during the leadership campaign that I won’t rest until it is crystal clear that the Scottish Liberal Democrats fit that bill.

Today, I am clear about the challenge ahead; and the opportunities that presents.

The tectonic plates of Scottish politics really are shifting.
And when they stop I am determined that the Liberal Democrats will be a dominant presence on the political landscape.

My election as leader is not a prescription for more of the same.
It is a mandate for change.

To take advantage of the changing political climate, we must move outside our comfort zone- away from the Holyrood bubble.

We must engage individuals, families and communities about the problems that they face in their daily lives.

And we must provide the big ideas – the practical solutions – that will make life easier for them.

I have started as I mean to go on.

I have been to factories from Inverurie in the North East to Campbeltown in Argyll.

To new affordable housing developments;

To council offices

To farms and to harbours.

Hearing first hand people’s stories, their struggles and concerns.
We will hear some things that we might not ever have heard before.
And we will need to find solutions to meet their needs.

Politics is about winning people’s confidence – it’s about getting things done.

It’s what we did for eight years in government in Scotland.

This party gave the brightest and best ideas to Scotland's first eight years of devolution. We were the ideas factory of the last government.

Always with an eye for the long term. Always for the environment. Always for a country that young people can be proud of.

Free tuition, eye and dental checks, renewable energy, public transport.
And fair votes for local councils.

We run administrations under PR for local government all across Scotland.
So we will be the driver for new ideas – solutions for Scotland.
I will work day and night to build the team, produce the ideas and grow the party that will earn Scotland's trust.

But in a direction that allows us to respond to the fears people have about their jobs, their homes and their cost of living.

I know that we can do that again.

To make sure we bring the ideas and the changes that people need right now.
So that the successes we achieved in government are a starting point, and not an end.

It’s the measure of a political party that it can respond to urgent new demands.

That’s why this Party needs to be ready.

People are hurting now. The British economy is in meltdown.

People want to hear what we can do for them.

People are tightening their belts.

It’s right that Government does as well.

Families are feeling the pinch.

They are having to make sacrifices just to make ends meet.
We Liberal Democrats will respond to that.

Across Britain, Liberal Democrats will give tax cuts for people on low and middle incomes.

But I know we can do more in Scotland.

Families right across Scotland are being hit hard by rising prices.

Energy costs up by half;

Food costs up by 30 pounds a month;

Inflation the highest for 16 years.

We can't let this go on.

We can’t turn our backs.

We've got to find ways to help people out.

Because we know that things are going to get worse.

We have to say what can be done to put money back into peoples’ pockets.
We should use the Scottish Parliament’s power to cut income tax by two pence in the pound.

Saving the average Scot more than three hundred pounds a year.

Putting money back in the pockets of people who need it most.

That is my practical ambition.

Where others talk tax up I want to bring tax down.

The Scottish Government’s budget comes out in a few days time.

But that Budget cannot be “business as usual”

It has to cut the cost of living.

It has to put families first.

So this is my challenge to Scotland’s other parties.

Are they up for helping people across Scotland?

Do they support hard pressed families at this tough time?

Will they work with us to make it happen?

We must do this because Labour won’t.

They are unable to respond.

Out of touch.

Bereft of ideas.

People know that if the Government won’t change, then they have to change the Government.

And we will be part of that change away from Labour.

When a Prime Minister, when a Government, loses the trust of the people it’s time to go.

Tony Blair knew that.

When he got it so wrong on Iraq.

And so should Gordon Brown know that too. The 10p tax fiasco and the cancelled election were enough on their own.

But it’s a mark of the crisis in this Labour Government isn’t it?

When you can’t find a single person who can identify the function that Alistair Darling actually performs.

When circumstances change, governments must respond.

Right now, people are hurting.

Right now, fuels bills are rocketing, jobs and homes are at risk.
Yet from Labour there is nothing.

To say they are “dithering” perhaps credits them with an exaggerated sense of urgency.

They are stuck, empty and finished. They’ve had it.

The biggest debate that Cabinet members have; is to argue which of them; can be the Geoffrey Howe figure of the 21st century Labour Party.

But we can’t wait for them to end it.

We Scottish Liberal Democrats must hold them to account and to expose their failures.

To be part of their defeat.

When I was elected Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, I said that I would bring a little bit of Shetland to the job.

For me, this is personal.

I come from Shetland.

A place where people come together and work to solve the problems facing our community.

Not just because we need to, but because we want to.

But for Labour I have something else from Shetland in mind.

Every year at the end of our Up Helly-Aa fire festival, across the islands Viking longboats are set alight and sent seabound; An echo of Viking sea burials.

Well, you should think of this Labour Government like that: As a replica of something once feared but now firmly on the beach.

In Scotland, and across Britain, Liberal Democrats stand on those beaches, ready to give the final push goodbye to this Labour Government.

Some of their own crew have already been caught with matches.

There’s a smell of burning even in their Whips’ Office.

But in Edinburgh, in Glasgow, in Aberdeen, across Scotland we Liberal Democrats are ready to send them to a flaming horizon.

We stand ready to gain seats from Labour in Scotland and to replace this Government that dithers and does not – cannot – any longer respond.

So, bring on that contest.

We are determined to make a fresh appeal.

A party that is on your side.

That listens; and hears; and acts.

Real help in your pockets - right now.

An environment – green for your children.

A Scotland - equipped with the powers to act for the long term; We have achieved so many great things.

I am ready to lead us to more; to think hard; to work even harder; to bring the success that our country needs.

And the determination to make it happen.