Alex Salmond: Nicola Sturgeon will lead Scotland to independence He also claimed that Scottish Labour is in "terminal decline" regardless of who is chosen as its next leader, giving the SNP the opportunity to become Scotland's largest party in Westminster and hold the UK Government's "feet to the fire" over extra powers. Mr Salmond delivered his valedictory speech as First Minister to the conference after Ms Sturgeon was crowned as his successor without a contest. She will take over as First Minister next Wednesday after a special vote at the Scottish Parliament. She used her first speech as leader to put getting popular support for a second referendum at the top of her political agenda. She said her top priorities would be campaigning for separation and winning next year's general election in Scotland. Their speeches appeared to confirm that they intend to ignore their pre-referendum promise there would not a rerun for another generation and they will pursue a "neverendum" strategy until they get a Yes vote. Mr Salmond told his successor: "Nicola, your contribution to where this party now stands has already been immense. Your future contribution - I have no doubt - will be to make history. He told the conference the "dream" of independence was "alive and well and will succeed." Mr Salmond said that Scots, who voted by a margin of 55.3 per cent to 44.7 per cent to reject separation, had risen to the "the challenge of change" during the referendum. The people will not disappear back into the political shadows and the nation will not fade into the dark. This country has changed and changed utterly," he said, quoting the WB Yeats poem Easter, 1916, which described Ireland's Easter Rising against British rule. That is the change which will carry us forward - forward to independence. After a lengthy standing ovation, Mr Salmond returned to the podium to give an improvised postscript to his speech in which he predicted that Ms Sturgeon and Mr Hosie would succeed where he had failed. Earlier, he had predicted that "out of defeat will come future success" and the offer of extra powers was enough to convince many Scots to "give the Union one more drink at the last chance saloon." "For some it was the argument for saying not yet rather than yes," he said, claiming that he respected the referendum result. But he warned: "If the Westminster gang reneges on that promise, they will discover that Hell hath no fury like this nation scorned." He claimed the yardstick would be whether Gordon Brown's promises of "home rule" were honoured. "Let the message be very clear from this hall and this country to the Prime Minister - delay, prevaricate, block or obstruct the implementation of what was promised and Scotland will take matters into our own hands," he said without explaining how. Mr Salmond defended his record in office, highlighting a series of policies such as free university education, but said what had really changed during his tenure was "Scotland's perception of itself." Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour's interim leader, said: "The breathtaking arrogance to simply write off the votes of more than two million Scots is a missed opportunity to unify and bring the country together. He is leaving office with the country more divided that ever. John Lamont, Scottish Tory Chief Whip, said: "Alex Salmond had an opportunity today to act like a statesman and show some humility by fully accepting the referendum result. It's disappointing he remained true to form by making a speech that was both divisive and belligerent.