MSPs have recommended giving themselves a say in the direction of the Scottish National Investment Bank, setting up a possible clash with the SNP Government.

In a unanimous cross-party report on the law underpinning the new public sector lender, Holyrood’s Economy Committee said the Scottish Parliament should have a formal role in its long-term focus.

At present, Scottish Ministers insist that they, as the Bank’s sole shareholder and sponsor, will “set the direction for its investments through its strategic missions”.

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Announced by Nicola Sturgeon in late 2017, the SNIB is intended to provide “patient capital” for Scottish companies which might otherwise struggle to find it, helping them borrow money over a 10 to 15 years, funding which is often critical to business expansion.

The SNIB is expected to be up and running by 2020, with the Scottish Government having committed £2bn over 10 years to capitalise it.

In their report, the MSPs said the SNIB had the potential to be a “positive and integral part of the Scottish economy”, and approved the general principles of the Bill to empower Scottish ministers to create the bank and set its direction.

However they also said Parliament “should be formally consulted on those areas that will set the long-term focus of the Bank’s work - likely to be fundamental policy matters such as climate crisis, social housing or the care system”.

This goes against what Finance Secretary Derek Mackay told the committee last month.

Asked if he thought MSPs should have any role in scrutinising or approving the banks’s missions, he said: “I do not think that they should be... I think that it is right for the Government to be able to get on with its job as an executive”.

Committee convener Gordon Lindhurst said: “From the array of evidence we heard, the Scottish National Investment Bank has the potential to be a positive and integral part of the Scottish economy.

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“However, there are areas covered by the Bill and accompanying documents on which further work is required to ensure that the bank’s full potential is achieved.

“The committee considers that there is a crucial and formal role that MSPs should continue to play in the development of the bank. Similar processes exist in other pieces of comparable legislation and would be entirely appropriate here.

“The committee recognised the vital role the bank will play in fundamental policy matters such as social housing, climate change or the care system, to name but a few.”

Tory MSP Dean Lockhart said: “There are still a huge number of outstanding questions regarding the SNP’s plans for the Scottish National Investment Bank that need answered.

“There is still little indication of what the structure of the bank will be, and how closely involved SNP ministers will be in running it. With the SNP seemingly clueless on this, it’s only right MSPs play a formal role in setting the SNIB’s role and goals.

“Given the SNP’s track-record of failure on the economy we cannot afford to allow them to make a mess of this as well.”

Labour’s Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP government has staggered from one failed economic project to the next. The Scottish-European Growth Co-Investment Fund has only spent £3.2m out of a £200m fund to help businesses. The SNIB cannot be a wasted opportunity and another SNP failure in government.”