The head of the official Scottish independence campaign has described Westminster as "corrosive, cynical and remote", the Lords as "ridiculous" and attacked "smears" from the no campaign.

Independence will allow Scotland be rid of UK "war-mongers, job-cutters, asset-strippers, mortgage-flippers, welfare-bashers and bedroom-taxers", according to Yes Scotland chief Blair Jenkins.

He contrasted the "positive attitude" of Yes Scotland's "Project Hope", with the "anger, aggression, fear and anxiety" of "Project Fear", the unofficial nickname of Better Together.

He also touted Prime Minister David Cameron as a contender for Glasgow's Commonwealth Games 2014 for the speed with which he "ran away" from a televised debate with Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond.

Speaking at the SNP Conference in Perth, Mr Jenkins said: "If you are sick and fed up of the corrosive and cynical world of Westminster, then next year we can be rid of all that.

"Vote Yes and we can say enough to the remote House of Commons and the ridiculous House of Lords. Enough of the war-mongers and the job-cutters; enough of the asset-strippers and mortgage-flippers; enough of the welfare-bashers and the bedroom-taxers.

"Let's be done with them. Let's make our own decisions and live by our own values. It's time to speak up for Scotland. It's time to stand up for Scotland. It's time to vote Yes.

"What a contrast we present to Better Together. For the No campaign the day is never bright. It is only every dark, very dark. Their emotional range is strictly limited - anger and aggression, or fear and anxiety. And that's on a good day.

"We have our vision and our values. They have their scares and their smears. This referendum is a contest between Project Hope and Project Fear."

He added: "It was notable how quickly David Cameron ran away from the prospect of a televised debate with Alex Salmond. If he had run away any faster, the Prime Minister could have been a contender for medals in next year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.'

Later Scottish Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned if there was a No vote in the referendum, those campaigning for independence might not get such an opportunity again.

"We now have on September 18 next year the chance to win our country's independence," she said.

"Make no mistake, we might not get this chance again in our lifetimes. It is a precious opportunity."

She described the referendum as the "opportunity to take our own future in our own hands" adding it was the chance to "chart a new course for our country, to build a better future for our children".

Ms Sturgeon told the audience: "This is the moment in history we have all be waiting for, hoping for, campaigning for. It is our moment and we are not going to let it pass."

She said campaign for independence would be the "campaign of our lives" but she insisted: " Being governed by parties we don't vote for implementing policies we don't support is democratically unacceptable.

"It is time to bring decision making powers home, to complete the powers of our own Parliament, to access our own resources, to get the government we vote for not some of the time but all of the time."

She added: "If we want to build the country we know Scotland can be, independence is not optional, independence is absolutely essential."