Basing GB Energy's headquarters in Aberdeen would be a “political” decision rather than a logical and rational one, a senior SNP MSP has warned.

Fergus Ewing said Inverness rather than the North East should be "the renewables capital."

That puts him at odds with his colleague Kevin Stewart who said the North East was the “obvious” place for the company.

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The legislation underpinning GB Energy will likely be announced tomorrow as one of the 35 Bills in the King’s Speech.

Writing in The Herald on Sunday, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray described the firm as “one of the flagship missions from this new Labour government.”

He said it would be “a publicly-owned energy generation company which will ensure our energy security, create tens of thousands of jobs and bring down bills for good.”

The minister promised there would be “more news on GB Energy in the coming days.”

It is not clear if that news will include the location.

On Monday, a letter signed by some 750 business people, including oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, calling for Aberdeen to host the firm, was sent to Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband.

Russell Borthwick, the chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, who coordinated the letter, told the Press and Journal: "Headquartering GB Energy in Aberdeen will send a clear message that the city region will remain a globally recognised energy hub and the engine room for a green transition.

"The business community of Aberdeen and Grampian is calling on Labour to recognise our strengths, to put their faith in us, and to locate Great British Energy in Aberdeen."

Mr Borthwick said the party’s plans to fund GB Energy by hiking taxes on the sector should lead to “some benefit in return."

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Last week a number of prominent business leaders from the Highlands wrote to Mr Milliband to stake their claim.

Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Colin Marr said that a "significant proportion of the UK’s wind power, both on and offshore, and the majority of pumped hydro storage schemes will be located in the Highlands".

He added that the area's geography - "with deep water, large sheltered ports and inland areas ideal for pumped hydro storage" - meant it was the only feasible location for the manufacture and installations required.

Writing in the Inverness Courier, Mr Ewing, the MSP for Inverness and Nairn and a former Scottish Government minister, backed their bid.

“For it is here - right here in the Highlands - that most of the major renewables opportunities are already being seized, with the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport already attracting major investments,” he wrote.

“It is here we may see huge pump storage schemes developed. It’s here that we shall see eye-watering investment in grid upgrade.

"GB Energy is to promote and finance renewables development. Here is where the renewables action will be.

“Inverness never expected to be Europe’s oil and gas capital - nor with respect to my friends and colleagues there, should Aberdeen be the renewables capital.

“So, if logic and rational decision making determines the choice, then the Highland capital should be where this new body is sited and from where it can best operate.”

“If, on the other hand, the decision is taken mainly for political reasons, then I suspect Aberdeen may be chosen over Inverness. However, Aberdeen is still an oil and gas capital and should remain so for decades to come.

“Even by 2050, we will still depend on these fuels for two thirds of our energy needs. Surely better to produce our own, with a much lower carbon footprint, than import increasingly more fracked gas in LNG form from the USA and Middle East.”

(Image: PA)

Last week, his SNP colleague, Mr Stewart, the MSP for Aberdeen Central, urged the new Government “to make good on their commitment to base the new GB Energy agency in Scotland, pointing out that Aberdeen is the obvious base for its operations, given our long history as the Oil & Gas capital of Europe.”

He added: "If Labour wants to prove that they are serious about reaching Net Zero in a way which avoids decimating the north-east the way Margaret Thatcher destroyed countless mining communities across Scotland, it is imperative that they demonstrate this by basing GB Energy in Aberdeen, as well as matching the Scottish Government’s £500million Just Transition Fund."

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Asked during the campaign why he had not yet announced the location, Sir Keir told The Herald no decision had been taken.

“The energy sector is obviously very important to Scotland, centred in Aberdeen, so that makes a powerful case, but we haven’t decided.

“We will make a decision about it, but it will definitely, definitely be here in Scotland.

“That’s a down payment, I hope, on the way that we will work together in Scotland.

“I think one of the damaging things of the last few years has been the conflict between the Westminster government and the government here in Scotland fighting with each other, not being able to work with each other because both parties are putting their party first and not Scotland first.”