Scotland's First Minister outlined his country's independence plans after giving Sir Keir Starmer a dressing-down behind closed doors.
John Swinney argued that another referendum represents a fresh start for the country at an SNP campaign event today.
He said that by breaking away from Westminster and taking control of its energy industry, Scotland could slash household bills by more than a third.
Mr Swinney also dished out an attack on the Prime Minister - whom he has previously said would be out of a job if the SNP win 2026's Holyrood election.
The First Minister suggested Sir Keir could be remembered as a modern-day Margaret Thatcher if he fails to change course on Scotland.
Mr Swinney said: "The oil and gas industry has been an important part of Scotland's story, an important part of who we are.
"That is why when I met the Prime Minister on Friday, I made clear the existential nature of the current threat that we face.
"I left the Prime Minister in no doubt that unless he changes course, what we face is a second wave of 80s-style deindustrialisation, 80s-style economic devastation."
John Swinney delivered a speech on his plan's for Scottish independence this morning
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The First Minister also took a jibe at former Tory prime minister Liz Truss in his speech.
He said: "Today, Sir Keir Starmer is an even more unpopular Prime Minister than Liz Truss - and that takes some doing.
"But if he does not change course on the energy profits levy, he will enter our national story as a second [Margaret] Thatcher, a second destroyer of industry, a second destroyer of communities and Scotland will not forget."
He said while Scotland's oil and gas industry had delivered revenues of £450billion to the UK Government, his country was left "high-and-dry by an energy profits levy" that is "sucking the life" out of the industry.
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The First Minister suggested Sir Keir could be remembered as a modern-day Margaret Thatcher in Scotland
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Scottish Tory MSP Craig Hoy laid into the First Minister last night.
"John Swinney talks about presenting a clear case for independence, something that he has singularly failed to do over nearly two decades in Government," Mr Hoy blasted.
"The SNP have spent millions and wasted countless months in civil servants' time on their independence obsession."
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie issued a similar attack.
PICTURED: Alex Salmond speaks after Scotland voted against independence in 2014
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"Instead of fixing the damage in our public services, the SNP is once again talking up independence as a distraction from its own failures," she said.
In 2014, millions of Scots turned out to vote down independence, thwarting efforts to tear the union apart for the first time in more than three centuries.
Since then, aggregate polling has had the "Yes" vote trailing by as wide a margin as 10 percentage points.
However, it eclipsed the "No" vote throughout 2020 - and more recently, it has been rising continuously since the start of 2025.