A ROW has erupted over the future of Scotland's energy supply after it emerged that the owners of the country's last coal-fired power station were poised to pull the plug on the plant.

Scottish Power, which operates the giant Longannet plant in Fife, is preparing to announce late next month that it is likely to close by mid-2016 resulting in the loss of around 260 jobs, with a deal that would extend its lifespan looking increasingly unlikely.

The Scottish Government reacted furiously to the development, attempting to blame a "discriminatory" UK energy policy that due to its location had left the plant paying £40 million a year to hook up to the National Grid.

However, SNP energy minister Fergus Ewing came under attack from opponents, who accused the Nationalists of manufacturing the row to deflect from their own failure to develop a plan that would deliver a viable and secure energy supply for Scotland.

The Scottish Conservatives used a Holyrood debate to press for the construction of a new gas-fired power station. Scottish Power backs the plan in the longer term, but Mr Ewing said the UK charging regime would make it "economically impossible" for anyone to build it.

It has been widely known that Longannet would close by 2020 at the latest, due to the 40-year-old facility reaching the end of its lifespan and targets to reduce carbon emissions, which the SNP have enthusiastically backed. Any premature closure would leave Scotland increasingly dependent on importing energy from England and increase fears of "brownouts", which Scottish Power have previously warned would be a possibility due to doubts over Britain's energy capacity at peak times.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said it was "hard to rationalise" the Scottish Government's position, given that costs to hook up to the national grid had been a long-standing factor for the plant which he said was "far and away the biggest contributor to climate change in Scotland".

Meanwhile, Labour said the SNP was in danger of "misleading the workforce of Longannet" about the prospects of the long-term future of the plant.

Murdo Fraser, a Tory MSP and his party's energy spokesman, said that Scottish ministers had known for some time that Longannet would close by 2020, while Scotland's two other biggest generating plants were the nuclear-powered Torness and Hunterston, which are scheduled to shut within a decade. He attacked the SNP, which have said they would use powers over planning to prevent the development of any new nuclear power stations, for putting "all its eggs" in the basket of "intermittent" wind power.

"The party's own policy statements acknowledge Longannet has no long-term future," he said. "So for Fergus Ewing to pretend this is somehow the fault of the UK Government is simply playing politics with the jobs of the workforce."

Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Tom Greatrex, Labour shadow energy minister, said the threat to Longannet had brought Scotland's "increasingly imbalanced energy supply" into focus.

He added: "Already we are increasingly reliant on importing power from England to keep the lights on in Scotland when the wind isn't blowing. Without Longannet that situation will become even starker."

Mr Ewing said he had been consistent in arguing that Scotland needed a balance to its electricity mix in order to ensure security of supply and that he was "particularly concerned" that the Prime Minister "seems relaxed that his energy policies are contributing to the potential premature closure" of Longannet.

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