JOHN SWINNEY has used the SNP conference to pledge a £500 million childcare boost, cash deposits for first-time home buyers, and claim powers “engaged in illegal conflicts” would be banned from an independent Scotland.

Speaking at his party’s pre-election gathering in Edinburgh on Saturday, the SNP leader insisted May could bring an “absolutely seismic moment” with governments of all devolved nations committed to breaking with the British state.

Mr Swinney, who has stated that a repeat of the outright majority SNP won in 2011 would set the scene for a second referendum on separation, insisted: “We are closer to becoming independent than we have ever been.

“We can almost touch it.”

On the business of governing, Mr Swinney pledged a “transformational” extension of free year-round childcare to help working parents “backed by over £0.5 billion of new investment.”

The party’s fourth term has seen the Scottish Parliament declare a national housing emergency amid record homelessness, but as he bids for a fifth, the First Minister promised: “If re-elected, we will provide up to £10,000 towards a deposit to give people the help they need to buy their first home.”

Turning to the Middle East, Mr Swinney branded US and Israeli attacks on Iran “unjustifiable” with “no basis under international law,” and in an apparent response to criticism of the continued use of Scottish government-owned airports like Prestwick by the US military, he urged critics to look beyond the election and any future referendum to the constitution of a new state.

He told conference: “We will use the powers of independence to enshrine into our constitution a legally binding ban on nuclear weapons on our soil and in our seas.

“And we will go further — with independence, we will ban any foreign military power engaged in illegal conflicts from our shores.

“Two statements will be written directly into the very foundational document of our new nation — not in our name, not in our country.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie commented: “John Swinney is the tired, arrogant and out-of-touch face of an SNP government that has run out of ideas after nearly two decades in power.

“He has been at the heart of SNP failure for years, and now he expects the people of Scotland to give him a chance to fail them all over again.”