THE Scottish Tories are in a "muddle" over their criticism of approval being granted for a green energy project linked to a firm which has donated to Stephen Flynn's SNP branch, the First Minister has said.
At FMQs on Thursday, the Conservatives challenged John Swinney on a donation reportedly made to Flynn’s local SNP branch after he was said to have lobbied ministers at Holyrood about a wind farm proposal from Flotation Energy.
Approval was granted in April 2024, with reports saying it would have up to 35 floating turbines, making it the largest of its kind in the world.
Reports last October said that a £30,000 donation was made to Flynn’s branch of the party after the Flotation Energy project was given the go-ahead.
The firm's co-chief technical officer, Allan MacAskill, brother of former Alba MP and SNP justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, sent the money to the SNP branch in Aberdeen South on May 27, 2024.
Challenging Swinney on the donation during FMQs at Holyrood on Thursday, Tory finance spokesperson Craig Hoy said: “The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn lobbied the Scottish Government on behalf of Flotation Energy, a renewables company which was awarded consent for a project.
“Thirty days later, Stephen Flynn received a £30,000 donation from a director of that company.”
Prior to approval for the project being granted, Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan was said to have been sent a 117-page document about the scheme in the early hours of the morning, with a request for a decision by noon that day.
Hoy said McAllan had “signed off on it at just after 9 o’clock in the morning”.
He told MSPs: “Today we find out that behind closed doors, SNP ministers had ‘real concerns’ about the process in the awarding of this contract, and questioned whether the assessment had been rigorous enough.
“The secrecy and the lack of transparency is shocking.
“Something at the heart of this process stinks. Does John Swinney not realise how dodgy this process looks?”
Swinney made no comment on the donation, but said “concerns” that had been expressed were “about the time taken to reach the decision-making process as a consequence of Government scrutiny”.
He added: “The minister was expressing her concern the Government had to speed up its decision-making processes in that respect.”
He said that has since happened, pointing out to Hoy that fellow Tory MSP Douglas Lumsden had previously called on the Scottish Government to “streamline” the planning process for offshore wind projects.
The First Minister told Hoy: “I suggest the Scottish Conservatives decide whether they want to have projects delivered timeously, or whether they want to get in the road, because either way the Conservatives look like they are in their usual muddle today.”
