A senior member of the Scottish National Party leadership yesterday claimed that the party was on “the last lap” towards its long-term goal of independence and the break-up of the UK.

John Swinney, the Finance Minister in the Scottish government, made the assertion at the party's annual conference in Perth, saying that independence would lead to the creation of a prosperous Scotland in which every citizen could flourish.

The Nationalists want to hold a referendum on separation in 2010, provided that they can overcome the opposition of Scotland's three Unionist parties and win a vote to hold such a plebiscite in the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Swinney reminded his audience that John MacCormick, one of the gurus of modern nationalism, had correctly predicted in 1950 that Scotland would have its own parliament by the end of last century.

Mr Swinney added: “We are reminded of [MacCormick's] immortal words that ran alongside that prediction. He wrote, ‘The last lap is now to come.' We are in the last lap and we must win it for Scotland.”

Mr Swinney's remarks came after what has been a chastening week for the Nationalists, with their core belief of indepndence under attack after the UK Government implemented a £37 billion rescue of the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, Scotland's two premier banking institutions.

Gordon Brown claimed that the bailout would not have been possible if Scotland had been independent, and other Unionist critics pointed out that with Iceland and the Irish Republic experiencing serious financial problems, Alex Salmond's much-vaunted “arc of prosperity” - which, he claims, a separate Scotland would join - had turned into an “arc of insolvency”.

The Nationalists have hit back vigorously, seeking to lay much of the blame for Britain's banking problems at the door of the Prime Minister who, they said, as Chancellor oversaw a banking regulation system that was too lax.

Earlier in his speech, Mr Swinney attacked what he scathingly called “the Union dividend” boast of Unionist parties, saying it had kept economic growth in Scotland trailing the rest of the UK for the past 30 years.

“The financial turmoil of the past year, culminating in the financial crisis of the past few weeks, demonstrates that there has been no British economic miracle.

“It was just another chapter of the Union dividend ... just more of the Union dividend.”

Mr Swinney said that the UK Government had taken 30 years of Scotland's oil wealth - £249 billion in revenues - and, unlike Norway, had left no lasting legacy. “That's what the UK Government did when the roof needed fixing,” he said.

He took up the theme of several conference speakers, blaming Gordon Brown for the coming recession because, as Chancellor, he had built a housing bubble that had now burst.

Private finance initiative projects for public sector procurement at what Mr Swinney termed “credit card rates of interest” would force the Scottish government to find £1 billion of interest payments every year until 2020. “There's no financial credibility left for Labour in that, Mr Swinney said.

Mr Swinney also used his speech to flag up the SNP's outright opposition to the Calman Commission, whose interim report is due out by the end of the year. The commission, set up by Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives at Holyrood to outflank the Nationalists and their calls for independence, and supported by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is expected to back more financial powers for the devolved parliament within the UK.

Some observers believe that the main thrust of Calman will be to put forward a system of assigned revenues for Holyrood. That would see revenues raised in Scotland from taxes such as corporation tax and VAT being assigned to the Scottish Parliament, thus reducing the political importance of the Barnett formula and the £30 billion annual grant from the Treasury to Scotland.

Mr Swinney dismissed such a scheme and said: “We have to make sure Scotland gets the real powers for the economy that will allow us to make a real difference to the lives of our people. Replacing one set of failed rules like the Barnett formula with another set of rules that give Scotland little financial responsibility and flexibility - like the latest wheeze of assigned revenues - is no answer.”

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