Wendy Alexander, Leader of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Party speaks to conference.

- Check against delivery -

Good Morning conference.

To those delegates that simply glanced at today's Conference agenda, saw the name Alexander and hoped they might get the inside track on the date of the next General Election - I'm sorry to disappoint - but you've got the wrong Alexander.

However it is a great honour to stand before you today as the first woman leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament.

Let me begin by paying tribute to my predecessor Jack McConnell. His leadership as Scotland's First Minister made Scotland a better, fairer more prosperous country and we thank him.

But as the new leader and on behalf of the whole Scottish Party I also I have an apology to make.

An apology - for our defeat in last May's Scottish elections.

For despite our many achievements in government in Scotland

Too many felt we had lost touch.

The people of Scotland had not lost faith in Labour values but they wondered whether we had lost sight of how to put them into practice.

And the Scottish National Party was the beneficiary of that disillusionment.

They won, not because of the strength of their arguments, but because they persuaded people, quite disingenuously, that they too could deliver Labour's agenda of hope and aspiration.

Well I'm here to tell you that we're going to seize that agenda back.

Not simply by waiting for our opponents to fail but by renewing our Party to be again, the true national party of the people of Scotland.

And through that renewal I am determined to ensure that Labour wins back power in the Scottish Parliament.

Losing in May - hurt.

But what hurts more - is that Labour in Scotland - is no longer able to pass the kind of legislation that would help millions of our fellow Scots.

Measures like the smoking ban now delivering a huge reduction in heart attacks in Scotland.

Measures like free bus travel for pensioners.

Measures such as a new school opening every week.

That was Labour in government - changing Scotland for the better.

This week Scotland's new SNP government was caught up in a conflict of interest row. Not one - but two ministers - were found to still be owning shares in companies that could benefit from their ministerial decisions.

Reluctantly the SNP had to admit the potential for a conflict of interest.

It seems they had one rule for opposition - and no rules for government

But beyond these ministerial conflicts of interest lies a much more frightening conflict of interest.

The conflict of interest between the SNP and the people of Scotland.

For the SNP's burning issues are not poverty, or housing, or life chances but instead - which flags we fly, the rebranding of the Scottish government, more Scottish embassies.

And a staggering half a million pounds on a Scottish broadcasting commission.

The SNP say they now stand for a "national conversation" on Scotland's future - but the trouble is they have already decided the answer - and surprise, surprise, it is what it's always been - breaking up Britain.

That's not a conversation, that's a discussion with yourself.

Conference - we in Scotland need your help.

Because Alex Salmond has an ally here in the south - the Tory leader, David Cameron.

Alex Salmond plans to break up our country with the help of the Tories - and together we need to stop them both.

In their desperate attempts to play to English nationalism, the Tories will attack our Prime Minister...

...for being a Scot.

The same Tories will shout about England subsidising Scotland while Alex Salmond never tires of telling Scots that it's our oil that actually subsidises England.

They both have a great deal in common.

The politics of both the Tories and the Nationalists are the politics of division; the politics of envy; the politics of I'm alright, who cares about you.

Both are putting their own parties' priorities before the peoples' priorities.

And the SNP and the Tories have one final thing in common - they know that any Labour losses in Scotland at the General Election would suit both their agendas.

Conference - their way is not the Labour way.

We stand for something different,

for sharing our successes,

sharing our resources

and caring for our communities.

Their creed "divide and rule" ours "unity is strength"

For Labour's new leadership - north and south - politics is about shouldering responsibility.

Not passing the buck.

Or conveniently blaming Westminster.

We are about rising to the new challenges the United Kingdom faces.

We owe it to the people of Scotland to rebuild and reorganise Scottish Labour.

To learn the lessons from Labour in other parts of the country about how to stay in touch with changing times and rising aspirations

To regain the trust of the Scottish people.

Under my leadership in Holyrood and working with the Prime Minister and Des Browne the Scottish Secretary - and our party members and activists - we will renew Labour in Scotland.

We will be a party of principle and energy.

A party proud of its past but confident of its future.

A party fit to fight, determined to win and ready to serve.

Thank you conference.