THE SNP and Scottish Greens have been given a brutal foretaste of the next five years, as their opponents savaged their ground-breaking joint government deal before the ink on it was dry.

The two pro-independence parties are today expected to announce a partnership short of a formal coalition after intense negotiations since May’s Holyrood election.

The power-sharing pact could see Green ministers for the first time in the UK.

SNP MSPs held a group meeting last night, and the Scottish cabinet is expected to discuss the deal this morning.

The plan would then be put before Green party members - but not SNP members - for a final sign-off next week.

The Scottish Tories said Green “extremists” didn’t belong anywhere near power and the SNP had “lost the plot” if they thought businesses and workers would welcome the move.

Scottish Labour said the Greens would end up as SNP “lackeys”, with the country being run by “a tiny minority of political obsessives”.

Nicola Sturgeon took many in her own party by surprise when she opened talks with the Greens, despite there being no need based on parliamentary arithmetic.

The SNP won 64 MSPs at the election, one short of a majority, while the Greens won eight, although Lothians Green Alison Johnstone later quit to become Presiding Officer.

With one more seat than it won in 2016, the SNP can no longer be outvoted by the 64 MSPs of all the other parties combined, removing the threat of votes of confidence in ministers and repeals of SNP legislation that dogged it in the last parliament.

However the First Minister said a formal deal with the Greens was “potentially groundbreaking”.

READ MORE: Scottish Greens in line for opposition funds even if in Government

She said at the end of May: “We are setting no limits on our ambitions. It is not inconceivable that a cooperation agreement could lead in future to a Green minister or ministers being part of this government.”

The SNP has never shared power to date at Holyrood, governing twice as a minority and once as a majority.

With the First Minister due to set out her legislative programme for the year on August 31, Green party members have been told to expect a deal to be outlined today.

Green co-leader Patrick Harvie predicted last weekend it would be “very soon”, although the two parties still some “difficult” issues to iron out.

He and fellow co-leader Lorna Slater are seen as the Green MSPs most likely to take up a ministerial post.

Although Ms Sturgeon does not need the Greens to govern, their addition could increase pressure on Boris Johnson to grant Indyref2 and burnish her own environmental credentials ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.

The Tories last night highlighted a raft of “rash” Green manifesto pledges on transport and the environment, including a frequent flyer levy, an end to new road building, an early ban on petrol and diesel car sales, and better rights for prisoners.

MSP Liam Kerr said: “An SNP-Green deal is dire news for workers and businesses. The Green extremists don’t belong anywhere near government. Their manifesto is a doctrine to start a war on working Scotland.

“Drivers would be hammered by their rash proposals. The Greens want to scrap essential road projects and force most cars off the road within just a few years.

“Patrick Harvie will push for the end of the oil and gas industry at the first chance he gets, abandoning the 100,000 jobs which depend on it.

“They have no interest in energy transition. They want an unfair conclusion of our North Sea sector which is developing the very means to hit net zero.

“They are so out-of-touch that they want to hand criminals more rights and bring in punishing restrictions to prevent people from selling their own homes.

“Scotland’s economic recovery from Covid will be under threat from the Greens’ anti-business, anti-jobs ideology. This deal is just another way for the SNP to push for another divisive referendum. The Scottish Conservatives will stand up for workers and families against this nationalist coalition of chaos.”

Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar accused the SNP of “their usual political gamers” instead of focusing on the recovery from the pandemic.

He said: “As each day passes, Scotland’s need for a Government focussed on recovery and results grows.

“Instead, we’re set to be subjected to the spectacle of a coalition of cuts that no one voted for being rubber-stamped by a tiny minority of political obsessives.

“This isn’t how Scotland should be governed. The grim reality is that this coalition isn’t a surprise, it is just formalising what we’ve seen for years - Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP hammering our public services with cuts, and the Greens nodding along.

“This confirms the long-held suspicion that the Scottish Greens are a just a branch office of the SNP.

“If the Greens are to be anything more than simply the SNP’s lackeys, they need to re-discover their principles and fight for a greener Scotland rather than roll over to the SNP every time the going gets tough.

“Scotland needs a real alternative that is standing up for our national recovery, the NHS and decent jobs - not the same old constitutional arguments.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said: “It’s no surprise that parties only interested in scoring political points would be alarmed about any suggestion of cooperation in the interests of people and planet.

“People vote Green to get results, and over the last five years the Scottish Greens have achieved more from our manifesto than Labour and the Tories combined. We will continue to do that, whatever happens.”

A spokesperson for First Minister added: “Following the SNP’s record landslide election win in May, the First Minister extended an open invitation to all parties to discuss areas where they thought they could work closely with the SNP in Government for the common good in the face of the extraordinary challenges facing us such as the climate emergency and recovering from the pandemic.

“The fact that Labour and the Tories chose not to pursue that offer says far more about them than anyone else.”