PRIME minister Sir Keir Starmer looked to Vikings for inspiration as gave his first speech to Scottish Labour conference as Prime Minister.

Introduced by a young worker at the Harland and Wolff yard in Methil who praised the Labour UK government’s efforts to secure its future by brokering its purchase by Spanish state ship-builder Navantia, Sir Keir took to the stage amid a flurry of speculation that a Grangemouth announcement was in prospect.

That announcement came in the form of a pledge that workers being made redundant at the site could now look forward to 18 months of wages, and the commitment of £200 million in investment to find a future for the site, later cautiously welcomed as “a start” by Unite.

Echoing across a half-empty conference hall, the 45-minute speech was however dominated by talk of war, global instability and Ukraine.

Noting the third anniversary of the outbreak of the war was approaching, the Prime Minister told delegates Britain must “do more for our defence and security.

“In this new era, we can’t cling to the comforts of the past.

“It’s time to take responsibility for our security, our continent, and I am clear that Britain will take a leading resonsibility.

“We have to be ready to play our role if a force is required in Ukraine once a peace agreement is reached, and we have to be ready to reshape our economy with industrial policy.

“To stand up for Ukraine, to stand up for Europe, but most of all, to stand up for our security, beacuse Ukraine is vital for us.”

He turned to the Galloway Hoard, a thousand-year-old Viking treasure uncovered in Scotland a decade ago, for inspiration in this new era.

“It’s taken time to work out what it says on the treasure”, he said.

“This is what it says: ‘This is the community’s wealth’.

“Conference — the soil we walk on has life and character, and this is Scotland’s character.

“That’s what fired the imagination of the people who founded this party, that’s what drove people who built this nation, who transformed our union into a bond across these islands woven in the solidarity of working people.

“It is that same cause which must now guide us to a better future, together.”

Asking not to be named, one baffled trade union delegate told the Star afterwards: “So we are to get an industrial strategy in order to send weapons to Ukraine?”