The SNP's goal of Scottish independence is "clearly in sight", Nicola Sturgeon has told delegates at the party's conference in Glasgow.

The First Minister attempted to present a positive message in contrast with the "unfolding calamity" taking place at Westminster, where Theresa May is struggling to negotiate the UK's exit deal from the European Union.

Ms Sturgeon told activists that while there were times when the SNP's goal of independence "seemed a long way off", it was now "clearly in sight".

While she said Westminster "stumbles from disaster to disaster", she insisted the Scottish Government was living up to its responsibilities and helping with "meeting the global challenges of our age".

Speaking about Ms May's Conservative administration, she said: "It is a shambles. It is hard to watch that unfolding calamity with anything other than horror."

She told SNP delegates: "Just think how much more we could do, free of the chaos and incompetence of Westminster.

"Just think how much more hope will be possible when we take Scotland's future into Scotland's hands and become an independent country.

"An independent Scotland, just as Scotland is now, will be a beacon for progressive values - equality, opportunity, diversity and fairness.

"Indeed, those values feel more important today than at any time in my life."

The First Minister told delegates: "In the face of rising prejudice and intolerance across the world, I am proud that our party welcomes those who come here from other countries.

"To everyone who has chosen to make Scotland your home, no matter where you come from, let me say this again today - we value your contribution.

"Ours is a better country for having you here and we want you to stay."

She went on to send a "blunt" message to the Prime Minister, urging her to end the UK Government's "hostile environment policy" towards immigrants.

On Brexit, Ms Sturgeon paraphrased Winston Churchill, who famously said: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

The SNP leader stated: "When the history books tell the story of this Tory government, selfishly driving the UK towards a hard Brexit just to appease its own ideologues, the verdict will be damning.

"Never has so much been lost by so many to satisfy so few."

She hit out: "This UK Government's handling of these negotiations has been shambolic, chaotic and utterly incompetent. 838 days since the Brexit referendum happened. Just 171 days until exit.

"And yet no-one has any idea what the UK's future relationship with the EU will be. That is a disgraceful failure of leadership."

While she made clear that SNP MPs would back a so-called People's Vote in the House of Commons, she told the conference: "Let's not kid ourselves. There is no guarantee that another vote won't deliver the same outcome - Scotland choosing to remain but still facing exit against our will."

She added that while Brexit was a "serious problem" for Scotland, that was the case "only because of a more fundamental issue".

The First Minister said: "Our future is not in our own hands. Scotland's future is in Westminster's hands. The only solution to that is to become an independent country."

She stressed the need to wait for more details about Brexit to be known before there could be another referendum.

Ms Sturgeon said: "The future relationship between the UK and the EU will determine the context in which Scotland would become independent.

"And so the detail of that will shape some of the answers that people want. But as we wait - impatiently, at times, I know - for this phase of negotiations to conclude and for the fog of Brexit to clear, be in no doubt about this.

"The last two years have shown why Scotland needs to be independent. And I am more confident than ever that Scotland will be independent."

While much of her 50-minute long address focused on the big issues of Brexit and independence, the First Minister included a number of policy announcements.

Bursaries for student nurses - which were retained in Scotland after being scrapped south of the border - will be increased from £6500 a year to £10,000 a year by the year 2020-21.

Such a move will help Scotland attract more people into nursing when the recruitment challenge which already faces the health service becomes more challenging in the wake of Brexit.

Meanwhile the charity Social Bite will receive £6.5m for work to help vulnerable people with complex needs find a settled place to stay.

This money, Ms Sturgeon told the conference, will help "800 people to be lifted out of homelessness for good".

To help small to medium sized businesses looking to expand and modernise, she revealed up to £18m of European cash would be used by the Scottish Government to set up an advanced manufacturing fund - saying that by doing this the SNP were "reindustrialising Scotland".

The Tories claimed there was little in the speech apart from independence, with Conservative MSP Annie Wells branding it "a tired speech from a tired government which has run out of ideas, apart from the only one they've ever had".

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said while education was the "supposed top priority" of Ms Sturgeon's government, this had "barely merited a passing mention" in her speech.

Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton also hit out, saying: "Nicola Sturgeon needs to stop trying to turn Brexit into the break-up of the UK."

But Mark Ruskell MSP from the pro-independence Scottish Greens said: "Brexit is already causing chaos and will result in an unprecedented loss of civil rights.

"Independence in the EU is the right choice for Scotland, giving us self-determination whilst working with neighbours to build a better Europe."