John Swinney: IndyRef's 10th anniversary should remind us that a better tomorrow is possible

Ten years ago today, you were voting for the country you wanted Scotland to become. Scotland’s future was in your hands.

All of us were engaged in a great national debate and our horizons had never been broader. Our families, workmates, school friends and neighbours were talking about our hopes and ambitions for the country we call home.

In the biggest democratic exercise in Scotland’s history, 85 per cent of the country turned out to vote. The Yes Scotland campaign was dynamic, empowering and optimistic.

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Community-led groups sprung up across the country and people who had not engaged with the political process before found themselves getting involved in campaigning.

It inspired 1.6 million Scots to vote Yes for an independent Scotland. But it wasn’t enough, and truthfully, I was heartbroken by the result.

I remember seeing the ballot boxes being opened in my home patch of Perth and knowing that we were not going to win at that count. But as the night wore on it became clear we were not going to make it across Scotland.

In days after the referendum, I spoke to many leading figures in the No campaign as Parliament returned. They were gracious, and they were understanding that lifelong independence campaigners like me were truly hurting at that moment.

If the result had gone the other way, I like to think that I would have shown them the courtesy that they extended to me.

Ten years ago, Westminster asked Scotland to trust them with their future. And as a nation at the ballot box, we did just that. In return, we were dragged out of the EU against our will. Brexit has, and continues to be, a disaster.

We’ve had economic chaos with Liz Truss and Partygate with Boris Johnson. Mortgages are higher, so are energy bills and food prices. Families that put their trust in the UK in 2014 are now struggling just to make ends meet.

The last ten years have been tough for everyone. Now we have the Labour party under Sir Keir Starmer in power. They campaigned with a promise to the people of Scotland of change. Much remains to be seen about what Labour do in power, but alarm bells are already sounding about what change really looks like.

Instead of investment in public services we are getting a further £22billion of cuts. Instead of supporting both the young and old out of poverty we are getting more Tory fiscal rules. Instead of supporting Scotland’s businesses we are getting the same Brexit barriers and now thousands of energy jobs put at risk.

In Government, the SNP has stepped up to support working families and start to build the Scotland that we know is possible, today. It’s only because the SNP stepped up after 2014 that tens of thousands of parents are going out to work, helped by the expansion of childcare we have delivered.

Around 100,000 children are being kept out of poverty because we introduced policies like the Scottish Child Payment. And of course, tens of thousands of Scottish students are attending some of the finest universities in the world without paying a single penny in tuition fees because of the actions of the SNP.

We are transforming the lives of people in Scotland, and I am proud to say that. But while today is a day of reflection for many, for me it is an opportunity to look forward to the future.

It is my job, as Scotland’s First Minister, to lift heads and rekindle the spirit of optimism and hope that was so profound in 2014. There are 600,000 people now eligible to vote who couldn’t in 2014. By 2030, that will rise to over 1 million.

Young people overwhelmingly support independence, and it is the younger generation that we should all have in mind when we think about what type of country we want Scotland to be now – and into the future.

The ten-year anniversary of the independence vote should rekindle the imagination of our beautiful and historic nation. This day should remind us that a better tomorrow is possible than the bleak offer of more misery that’s on the table from Westminster.

Whatever path we choose, the future will be better if it is created by us – the people of Scotland. I have complete faith in voters to make the right decisions about their future. If we give them the tools, they can build whatever country they want.

Scotland has got what it takes. We can be a successful, happy and prosperous independent nation. Scotland will be an independent country, at home in the European family of nations. But we have to make that happen – and we have to do so together.

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