MINISTERS faced calls yesterday to act against the closure of Scotland’s last coal-fired power station, which unions branded an “absolute disgrace.”

Scottish Power announced that the Longannet plant in Fife will shut at the end of March, prompting warnings that Scotland’s position in the energy market is under threat.

Bosses said it was too expensive to keep the plant connected to the national grid due to high transmission charges and carbon taxes.

The privateer energy giant said a planned new gas power station at Cockenzie, East Lothian, was also being shelved “due to the same economic conditions.”

Scottish Power’s generation supremo Neil Clitheroe said the company had “explored every potential option” to save the site since its likely closure was announced this March.

But GMB, which represents workers in the energy sector, blamed the Tory government for deciding “against financially supporting the Scottish government to address the difference in transmission charges north and south.”

Scottish government Energy Minister Fergus Ewing agreed, saying Britain’s transmission charging system “penalises Scottish electricity generators in comparison to those in the south of England.

“In Longannet’s case, the extra charges amount to £40 million per year. However, despite raising our concerns repeatedly with the Prime Minister, absolutely nothing has changed,” he said.

Mr Ewing’s Labour shadow Lewis Macdonald said the SNP government had been “far too slow in preparing for the consequences” of the closure.

GMB senior Scotland organiser Jim Moohan said: “A thousand-plus jobs will be lost at the station, including core workers and contractors, without the direct intervention of individuals who have the opportunity to reverse what has been an absolute disgrace.”

Scottish TUC general secretary Grahame Smith said the announcement was a “devastating blow to both Longannet’s skilled and dedicated workforce and the economy of Fife and central Scotland.”

He called for ministers and bosses to work with unions “to ensure that all workers affected receive comprehensive, effective support to find new jobs at similar levels of skill and remuneration.”

And he warned: “Longannet’s closure also sends another powerful message that energy policy continues to fail to address the security-of-supply imperative. Scotland’s long-standing position as a net exporter of energy is increasingly threatened.”