SNP ministers have been accused of “climate hypocrisy” after giving the go-ahead for a new, gas-fired, power station – a decision that was branded a “catastrophic failure” by environmental campaigners.

Developers SSE Thermal and Equinor insist that their planned, power station at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire , will be equipped with carbon capture technology.

This will help the proposed, 900 megawatt MW facility remove the CO2 from its emissions, they added.

A website for the project stressed that “flexible and efficient gas-fired generation will continue to play a critical role in the transition to a net-zero future” adding this would supply “reliable backup power” while “complementing renewable energy”.

However, environmental campaigners claimed that granting consent for the project showed Scotland’s political leaders were “trapped in a fossil fuel fantasy where every new project is somehow sold as climate progress”.

The application for the power station was consented on the same day that Holyrood debated…