Annie Wells: The glaring omission in Nicola Sturgeon's speech

Nicola Sturgeon asked her supporters in the hall today to stay patient on the question of independence. No doubt they will. But the truth is that most people in Scotland lost patience with the SNP a long time ago.

It is four long years since we held the referendum campaign and agreed it would be “once in a generation”. We fought that contest in the hope that, one way or another, it would put the issue to bed.

Fat chance. Before the results were even in, the SNP was crying foul and the long, relentless drive for a re-run began. Brexit provided Nicola Sturgeon with her perfect excuse to put it back on the table.

We saw a conference speech by the First Minister dominated once again by the same old arguments: independence is coming, independence will cure everything, independence is the only way forward. The Nationalists have become the ultimate stuck record.

Nicola Sturgeon exposed a party with little left to say (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

None of this would matter too much if the SNP wasn’t also running the Government in Scotland. Unfortunately it is. And we are suffering the consequences.

Nicola Sturgeon said two years ago that education would be her number one priority in government. Yet, staggeringly, in her speech yesterday there was barely any mention of education at all.

It was a glaring omission but in truth it is little wonder – the SNP has dumped its flagship education bill, has lost the trust of many teachers on the front-line, and is presiding over a crisis in teacher numbers and restricted subject choice.

After 11 years in Government, the SNP is looking tired. Its leader’s conference speech exposed a party that has little left to say – apart from the one thing they really care about.

Like many Scots, I’ve run out of patience with the SNP’s one-track mindset. It’s time for a change.

Annie Wells is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Glasgow