Humza Yousaf has been accused of “grand gestures and empty promises” on climate as his government was blamed for delaying a giant offshore wind farm.
The first minister’s environmental credentials are now under further strain after his administration missed a deadline to approve the Berwick Bank development in the outer Firth of Forth.
The proposed wind farm, which has the potential to support 4,650 jobs in Scotland and power six million households each year, did not get consent from Scottish ministers in time to secure a power price guarantee from the UK government.
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, told the Times: “Years of grand rhetoric and empty promises from the SNP are coming home to roost, with devastating consequences.
“Ministers must come to parliament and explain how their startling incompetence let this project, and the jobs it could have brought to the Scottish economy, slip away."
Berwick Bank has been in the planning system since December 2022 but without consent from Scottish ministers it could not go into the UK government’s contracts for difference (CfD) auction, where developers can bid for long-term deals that guarantee a price for the power generated.
Securing a CfD is seen as essential to substantial offshore wind projects moving forward as it gives investors certainty over the types of long-term returns they are likely to generate.
The deadline for this year’s round closed on Friday and no further auctions are planned until 2025.
A spokesman for the Scottish government said ministers would make a final decision on Berwick Bank “in due course” and declined to comment on a live application.