The SNP leader John Swinney has pledged to put the “people’s priorities” at the heart of the Scottish government .

In his keynote address to the SNP conference in Edinburgh, he insisted he would still focus on convincing voters that independence was the “route” to delivering a fairer and stronger country.

But he warned that the Scottish government would need to work “harder and smarter” to deliver in the face of Westminster “cuts”.

On Wednesday, the first minister will formally set out his legislative plans for the coming year in the programme for government after MSPs return to Holyrood.

Mr Swinney was making his first conference speech as first minister since becoming SNP leader in May following the resignation of Humza Yousaf.

Within weeks he found himself leading the party into a general election which saw the SNP’s tally of MPs fall from 48 to just nine.

In his speech he acknowledged it had been “an incredibly tough night”.

“We’ve reflected as a party and we are learning the lessons of that election,” he told delegates.

He promised to turn the SNP into an “election winning organisation again” and lead his party to victory at the next Holyrood vote in 2026.

In a closed session of the conference on Friday Mr Swinney he was recorded telling delegates the party had spent too much time focusing on the “process of independence”.

His closing speech to the conference did not spell out a strategy for achieving another referendum but he won prolonged applause when he insisted independence remained central to his message.

Mr Swinney said: “My promise to you is that I will make sure independence is understood as the route to a stronger and fairer country.

“Understood not as nice to have – but as urgent and essential here and now. That is how we will make independence happen.”

Mr Swinney said he wanted the party to look outwards rather than inwards and to speak to the people of Scotland.

He said they only earned the right to be heard when they were focused on making life better for them.

He said the government would “tailor support better to families” so they can “get the help they need” in what he described as sustainable and smarter policy-making.

He conceded that this would not have the same “immediate impact” as ending the two-child cap on some benefits – something the Labour government at Westminster has said it does not have the money to do.

The SNP leader added: “We will also prioritise our public services – including our cherished NHS.

“We will bring forward reforms to shift the balance of care to preventive and community-based support.”

He said Labour was guilty of a “breach of trust” by announcing £22bn of spending cuts within weeks of its election victory.

He said it amounted to austerity with a “capital A” and predicted it would go down as an “era-defining moment”.

“So it falls on us, the national party of Scotland, to awaken that sense of optimism and hope among our fellow Scots,” he said.

“To rekindle the imagination of our nation, to show them that a better future is possible, to unite our country to win our independence – that is what we have to do.”

He spoke of seeing children who went to school with his son experience the same poverty he saw others endure when he himself was younger.

“Even in the toughest of financial circumstances, the SNP will do everything we can to give every single child the best possible start in life,” he said.

Earlier Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop told BBC Scotland’s the Sunday Show that a “family first approach” would be taken by the government, despite what she called “very limited resources”.

She stated they would aim to save money by cutting back on administration, and added that voters “have been disappointed” with the SNP recently, resulting in their performance at the general election in July.

Ms Hyslop said the party had “perhaps spread ourselves too thin” in recent years, while reiterating Mr Swinney’s message about working “smarter and harder” in government .

The former Health Secretary Jeane Freeman told the same programme that the Scottish government needed to focus “on three or four key areas where they’re going to put a great deal of effort into making a difference.”

Ms Freeman urged ministers to focus on the cost of living and public services.

The party conference came after 18 months of turmoil that has seen three different leaders at the helm and an ongoing police investigation into party finances.