IT is exactly the kind of rightist European independence movement that makes SNP leaders shudder.

Radically neo-liberal and openly hostile to migrants and refugees, northern Italy's Grande Nord is far from an obvious ally for Nicola Sturgeon's brand of social-democratic Scottish nationalism.

Yet this tiny right-wing party on Monday announced it had signed a pact with the SNP to fight "together for independence".

There was just one problem: the agreement it had struck was not with the SNP, but with Tommy Sheridan, of Hope over Fear. And even Mr Sheridan, when questioned by The Herald, said he did not know what he had signed.

The SNP on Monday confirmed to The Herald that it did not have any pact with Grande Nord and that it did not endorse the party.

Grande Nord is a splinter group of the old Lega Nord, now simply Lega, the more right-wing of the two populist parties currently running Italy.

BACKGROUND: The inrequited love of Lega Nord for Alex Salmond

Grande Nord figures believe current Lega leader Matteo Salvini, one of Italy's vice-premiers, has betrayed the pro-North campaign of the original Lega Nord. Lega's founder Umberto Bossi had swayed between support for outright independence for a nation he called Padania and a federalist stance in which he complained too much northern money was being sent to Italy's poorer south.

Grande Nord's pact with the SNP was hailed by its leader, a Milan hotelier named Roberto Bernadelli.

He told his party's online newspaper, L'Indipendenza Nuova, that the signing was "an historic event which legitimises Grande Nord as part of the great family of European independentism." He added: "We are changing history.

"The North has more hope of fighting for its freedom, thanks to its Scottish brothers, who are determined to demand emancipation from London in the same way we are from Rome."

Pictures were shared on social media of Mr Bernadelli and Mr Sheridan signing the document during this weekend's Hope Over Fear event in Glasgow's George Square.

The Herald:

Hope Over Fear

The document has SNP and Grande Nord logos at its top. It is called "Together for independence."

In not-quite-correct English, it reads: "In the name of the same values of independence, brotherhood, fraternity, kindness, friendship, we are going to sign a mutual cooperation among the different countries that believe in a new Europe of people."

Mr Sheridan signed it under his own name and the title "SNP-Hope Over Fear". He told The Herald he did not know anything about Grande Nord. Asked if there had been a misunderstanding, Mr Sheridan said: "There must have been".

He added: "I was asked by an indy activist to pose for some pictures with a group of people who were over to support us. That is all I know. I am not in the SNP."

L'Indipendenza Nuova published pictures of Mr Sheridan in front of a Sun of the Alps flag, the green-petalled symbol of Padania, the name Lega Nord previously proposed for a sovereign north Italian state.