Donald Trump’s golf resort in Aberdeenshire has been branded a “half-built carbuncle” by Green MSP Patrick Harvie.
The Glasgow-based politician urged Alex Salmond to defend plans to build an 11-turbine wind energy demonstrator project off the coast near the US tycoon’s £750million links development.
As the local MSP, the first minister has removed himself from any government decision on the future of the application by the European Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen.
The day after Mr Trump’s appearance at the Scottish Parliament, Mr Harvie challenged Mr Salmond to defend his commitment to wind energy and tackling climate change.
He said: “Now that my favourite pantomime villain has left the stage, I hope the first minister is coming to regret having been drawn so easily into Mr Trump’s orbit, finding himself now with a half-built carbuncle in his constituency and a billionaire threatening legal action against a vital demonstration site for offshore wind power.”
Mr Harvie called on Mr Salmond to treat the windfarm planning applications seriously, and to stand up to Mr Trump, starting by removing him from an international network of businessmen with Scottish connections.
He said: “Defend it vigorously in the courts if it comes to that, and take no delay in telling Mr Trump where to get off. Kicking him out of the GlobalScot network would be a good start.”
Mr Salmond said he disagreed that Mr Trump’s golf course was a carbuncle, and added that by every account it “looks absolutely tremendous”.
He added: “Other people’s projects, and that includes the offshore demonstrator, need to be assessed in the proper manner and I’m certain that the minister of energy will do that according to his duties and responsibilities.”
A spokesman for Mr Salmond later said there were no plans to remove Mr Trump from Global-Scot.
“There’s a big disagreement in terms of the benefits of offshore wind with Mr Trump but I don’t think it would send the right signal or serve any real purpose for us to say that being on GlobalScot, you have to agree with the government,” he said.