The Scottish Greens has launched its campaign for the Holyrood elections with an “extravagant” promise to deliver more than 200,000 renewables jobs.

And co-convener Patrick Harvie has made the dismantling of the North Sea oil and gas industry a key election pledge.

Opposition politicians have branded the policy “daft”, suggesting it would “kill off” jobs rather than create them.

Mr Harvie said: “We bring fresh, new, bold ideas to parliament. We will work constructively with others who share our aims.

“Holyrood – and Scotland – needs a diverse politics and progressive champions to hold the Scottish Government to account.”

He announced six key pledges as part of the ‘Scotland Can’ campaign, including claims the Green Party could deliver 204,000 jobs in the renewables industry, as well as support small businesses.

Speaking in Glasgow, Mr Harvie said the long-term future of the north-east could be secured through decommissioning – and he accused other politicians of burying their heads in the sand over the issue.

He said “turbulence” in the oil industry had caused “unbearable insecurity” for oil and gas workers who need “secure jobs for the future as we move away from fossil fuel”.

But Scottish Conservative MSP and convener of the parliament’s energy committee, Murdo Fraser, said the election of the Green Party would sound the death knell for the offshore industry.

He said: “Far from creating jobs, the Green’s plans will kill them off.

“We still have tens of thousands of jobs in Scotland reliant on the oil and gas industry – a sector which the Greens will shut down permanently.

“In the past we have heard many extravagant claims about the number of jobs which will be created in renewable energy, when the reality is very different.

“There is no foundation whatsoever for these daft claims from the Greens as to how many jobs can be created, nor any idea of how these would be paid for.”

The Green Party, which now has more than 9,000 members, has enjoyed a surge in the polls in recent weeks and is poised to build on their two current MSPs when voters cast their ballots on May 5.

Other pledges that will be pushed by the party during the upcoming campaign include a complete ban on fracking and an end to fuel poverty.