WE want to see Scotland as an independent nation - and we want to see the SNP use the levers of power to create the progressive, socially just country we long for.

A full thirteen months after the independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon has now put the issue of independence in the slow lane, and put her foot on the accelerator over jobs, schools, hospitals and welfare.

Her priorities are right. When it comes to progressive domestic policy and independence, one will lead to the other. Independence will flow from the creation of a strong, fair and socially just country, built by an engaged, confident, politically literate electorate.

While domestic policy is now to the fore, though, Sturgeon has certainly not kicked the constitutional issue into the long grass.

Another referendum remains a possibility in the next parliament, especially if Scotland votes to stay in the European Union but the overall UK vote is to leave.

A dysfunctional Labour party and a cruel, long-term Tory government could also produce a public clamour to break away from the Westminster system, as she pointed out yesterday.

But while independence remains the life pulse of the SNP, it is not necessarily what animates voters on the eve of a Holyrood election, when they may have more immediate concerns.

So through a series of signals - the absence of a main hall debate on independence, the reinforcing of the point that public appetite will determine the timing of a second vote, and above all the focus on record and policy - the First Minister has reset the party’s priorities somewhat.

“We are a left of centre social democratic party - standing up for the values, interests and aspirations of mainstream Scotland - and that’s what we always will be,” she said, reminding the public of the SNP’s non-constitutional credentials. That is a statement we wanted to hear.

By portraying the extremism in the other parties - Labour chaotic, Tories cold and heartless, Ukip xenophobic and the LibDems invisible - Sturgeon also cleverly pitched the SNP as the only credible choice in May 2016.

With less than 200 days to the Holyrood election this is sound politics.

Some delegates no doubt wished for more red meat on the constitution, but the run-up to a potentially historic third term is not the time to be a gunslinger.

As a progressive newspaper the Sunday Herald believes that independence is not only Scotland's future, but also the only way the country can become the fairer, more socially just, and prosperous nation we wish to see. Westminster is the antithesis to progressive politics. The country we want built will never be created while the union exists.

Sturgeon’s plans to counter austerity and tackle inequality through the powers accumulating under devolution keeps that goal in sight, albeit at a slower pace than we would like.

She is therefore right, as the election nears, to concentrate on the progressive policies which can be implemented at Holyrood to address poverty, improve educational attainment, boost the health service, and mitigate the Tory government’s brutal welfare cuts.

In her speech yesterday, the First Minister said an early step, if re-elected, will be a Scottish Social Security Bill including an increase in carers’ allowance worth £600 a year. It would be made possible by “limited new welfare powers”, and “fairness and dignity” would be at its heart.

It is good to see that while Scottish Labour drifts gormlessly in a policy vacuum, one party is already planning how to make best use of the powers being devolved by the Scotland Bill for those who really need help in our society.

The SNP’s conference, its largest ever, and an extended celebration of its remarkable general election victory, was an undoubted success for Sturgeon and her party.

With a third term under her belt, Sturgeon will surely face pressure from within her party for a second independence vote in case popularity ebbs away. Like many, we too would like to see another referendum sooner rather than later. For now, though, Sturgeon has rightly made her goal a third consecutive SNP government and a second outright majority.

To secure it, Sturgeon’s message to the electorate will be one of trust - trust the SNP to be competent, unlike Labour, and trust it to be fair, unlike the Conservatives. That is what we wish to see: a fair and humane party of government, which puts the people first, and a party of authenticity and principle not phoney spin and soulless positioning. A party which enables the people to create the socially just country that Scotland can become, and a party which the electorate can then trust on its record to lead the nation towards independence and progress.