By Steve Bargeton, political editor

SNP LEADER Alex Salmond yesterday set his party on the long march to the 2007 Holyrood elections with a rousing address to the annual conference in Aviemore.

In the most emphatic answer to critics who say the party is going soft on independence, he said Scotland was “big enough and talented enough” to go it alone.

He revived the great nationalist cry of “it’s Scotland’s oil,” claiming revenues from the North Sea could last for another half a century.

In a powerful speech full of the old Salmond fizz, he charted the road to a Scotland making its own way in the world.

The first step is to emerge as the biggest party after the Holyrood elections with an ambitious target of 20 additional first-past-the-post seats, then win a referendum to bargain with Westminster for independence.

“Our political strategy is crystal clear,” said Mr Salmond. “We intend to win the election in 2007.

“We intend to demonstrate to Scotland that we have the competence and the credibility to run Scotland and run it well.

“We intend to offer the people of this country—within the first term of office—the opportunity to move forward to independence.”

The key to success, he said, was confidence.

“Unionism depends on the notion that somehow our nation of Scotland is incapable of making the big decisions—war and peace, taxation, international aid—issues like Iraq, tax credits, and the betrayals since the G8,” he said.

“But what exactly is it about Westminster’s handling of these issues that we are meant to admire?

“The truth is that Scotland is good enough, big enough and talented enough to be independent.

“We are not going to allow our potential as a people to be measured by the mediocrity of the Scottish Executive,” he said.

“We are not going to allow our nation to be traduced and misrepresented by the mendacity of Westminster.

“And we are not going to allow our country to be a dumping ground for nuclear waste of the next generation of nuclear missiles.”

Mr Salmond painted a vibrant picture of a Scotland driven by oil revenue—a “Celtic tiger, not a Caledonian pussycat.”

He compared the Scottish experience with that of independent Norway to the east and independent Ireland to the west.

“If we had grown at the rate of independent Norway over the last 20 years we would be £5000 a head richer,” he said.

“If we had matched the growth rate of independent Ireland we would be £20,000 a head richer.

“What we need is the economic strategy to unlock that potential, to be among the most competitive countries in the world, to match the growth of the other small independent European nations.

“If we were to do that, it would mean an independence bonus of an additional £19 billion in the economy by 2015, or £4000 per Scot.”

He said oil reserves could still underpin the Scottish economy.

“There is as much oil and gas in the waters around Scotland as has been exploited thus far,” he said. “Another 30 plus billion barrels of oil, another £200 billion of revenues.

“We have a second chance to transform our economic prospects and we must seize it with both hands.

“Now we must never let them forget it, not now, not ever—it is still Scotland’s oil.”