SNP conference: Nicola Sturgeon urges voters to dump Labour 15 November 2014 Last updated at 15:35 Nicola Sturgeon is making her first speech as SNP leader at the party's annual conference in Perth. The incoming Scottish first minister described becoming SNP leader as the "proudest moment of my life." She also paid tribute to her predecessor, Alex Salmond, as a "champion of our nation." And she predicted the SNP's best days were still to come, despite the "No" vote in September's independence referendum. Ms Sturgeon also urged Scottish voters to reject Labour at next May's general election. The SNP is aiming to win a majority of Scottish Westminster seats next May. Ms Sturgeon will also use her speech to outline measures for boosting business and the economy. Desperate mantra Her keynote address comes after Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont last month quit her job, accusing Westminster colleagues of treating the party in Scotland like a "branch office." Ms Sturgeon replaced Alex Salmond as SNP leader on Friday, and will be formally elected Scottish first minister next week. She told delegates at the conference: "Scotland's patience with Labour - or the 'dinosaurs' as Johann Lamont affectionately calls them - is running out fast, and they know it. They've got no positive case to make, so they will fall back on the same desperate mantra as before. You've got to vote Labour, they'll say, to keep the Tories out. Ms Sturgeon added: "That is the biggest con trick in Scottish politics and we must not fall for it again. Scotland did vote Labour at the last general election, but we still ended up with the Tories - and if the people of England vote Tory again next May, it won't matter how we vote. A Tory government is what we'll get. Or worse, a Tory/UKIP government. If that happens, the very last thing Scotland will need are Labour MPs who cosy up to the Tories. Ms Sturgeon went on to tell the conference: "What we will need are strong SNP MPs who will stand up to the Tories, challenge the despicable politics of Nigel Farage and fight Scotland's corner." In a repeat of the SNP's strategy at the last UK election, Ms Sturgeon said Scotland could hold a balance of power in the event of a hung parliament in 2015. "If that happens, I promise you this - you wont need to have voted Labour to keep the Tories out - because that's what we'll do," she will say. My pledge to Scotland today is this - the SNP will never put the Tories into government. Strong economy Elsewhere in her speech, Ms Sturgeon will promise to extend the Scottish government's small business bonus scheme - set to help almost 100,000 firms next year - for the lifetime of the next five-year parliament, if the SNP was re-elected in 2016. She will say: "Our success as a nation depends on a strong economy - that is a simple reality. My job as first minister will be to champion the interests of Scottish business at home and around the globe. That is a task I will embrace with relish. The SNP leader will add: "Scotland must always be an environment where ideas flourish, businesses locate and jobs are created. Because then and only then do we have the tools to do what should matter to all of us - and that is to eradicate the poverty that scars too many of our fellow citizens.