A Nationalist-led Executive at Holyrood would stage an independence referendum in its first term, according to SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon.

In a keynote speech to her party's conference in Glasgow yesterday, Sturgeon denied reports last week that the SNP would "park" their principal policy.

"An SNP government, in our four-year term of office, will put the decision firmly where it belongs - in the hands of the Scottish people," she said.

Sturgeon made the pledge in a speech to SNP activists, who had learned earlier that Stagecoach boss Brian Souter was donating £500,000 to the party.

The party received another boost when veteran peace campaigner Bruce Kent said he wanted the SNP to win power. He told the conference Labour had to be punished for the "foolish and dangerous" decision to replace Trident.

Kent told the conference he was brought up to understand Britain was England with the other component parts of the UK attached by "some sort of umbilical cord". However, he told the conference, recent trips to Scotland had opened his eyes. He said independence was "not a bad price to pay" for having another "peaceful and peace-minded and nuclear-weapon-free" country in the world.

The SNP believes its anti-nuclear stance has been further reinforced with a set of polling results it commissioned on the replacement of Trident.

The YouGov snapshot found that 65% of respondents agreed that a replacement nuclear missile system should not be sited north of the Border if a majority of Scottish MPs voted against renewing Trident.

Earlier this week, more than half of MPs representing Scottish constituencies voted against government plans for a new nuclear deterrent, putting pressure on prime minister Tony Blair.