Commenting on the latest in a long string of Government announcements about the Saltire Prize, Liberal Democrat Energy spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said:

“We’ve been subjected to a ludicrous number of announcements about the Saltire Prize. The pomp and bombast remains constant. The only thing that changes is the date, which keeps moving back.

“Perhaps if the Government stopped re-announcing this project, the date would stick. Given the wave and tidal licensing round last week, we need real action to support the industry, not this irrelevant vanity project.

“The First Minister claims that he was the first to recognise that the Pentland Firth could be the Saudi Arabia of tidal energy, but it is increasingly clear that his Saltire Prize is becoming the Millennium Dome of marine energy.”