By Steve Bargeton, political editor

THE SNP and the Scottish Greens yesterday formally agreed to work together in the Scottish Parliament—a deal which will almost certainly see nationalist leader Alex Salmond become First Minister.

Under the agreement, which falls short of coalition, the two Greens will back Mr Salmond for the top job next week and will vote for his ministerial appointments.

In return the SNP will bring forward a climate change bill early in the new parliamentary session and will nominate one of the two Green MSPs to chair a Holyrood committee.

And significantly, the arrangement—which follows five days of negotiation—does not commit the Greens to backing Mr Salmond in a confidence vote or even support the SNP’s budget plans.

The agreement is neither the “confidence and supply” model which the Greens had preferred nor a formal coalition.

The parties said these were ruled out because they would not have a working majority. The combined total of the SNP’s 47 seats and the two Greens falls well short of the 65 needed for a majority in the 129-seat parliament.

During the discussions the Greens had hoped to make some headway on transport issues which they consider key to achieving their climate change goals.

But The Courier understands the SNP pledge to build a new Forth crossing as a matter or urgency and to abolish bridge tolls on the Tay and the Forth remains.

Yesterday Labour, who were beaten in last week’s election by a single seat, described the deal with the Greens as “a model of no confidence and instability.”

But Mr Salmond insisted the agreement on co-operation between the two parties will set the tone for the four years of the parliament.

“The Scottish Greens represent a substantial body of opinion in Scotland, regardless of MSP numbers,” he said.

“Their formula for co-operation across parties short of formal coalition is an excellent example of the consensus we are seeking to build in the parliament and sets a positive tone for the incoming government.”

And again Mr Salmond appealed to the other parties to work with the SNP.

“If elected as First Minister, I look forward to working with the Scottish Green Party, and indeed other parties, to build a more successful Scotland by putting vital issues such as tackling climate change at the heart of our agenda to take Scotland forward,” he said.

Green co-leader Robin Harper said the deal laid the foundations for “progressive new politics” for Scotland.

“These constructive discussions have identified many shared objectives, including blocking nuclear power, tackling climate change and extending the powers of the Scottish Parliament,” he said.

“This is the beginning of a process and we will work positively with the SNP administration on issues of broad agreement.

“There remain significant policy differences between the two parties, however, and on those issues the Greens will continue to promote our distinctive policies.”

Labour poured scorn on the deal and again questioned whether Mr Salmond will succeed in being elected First Minister.

“Alex Salmond has been in discussion for five days and hasn’t been able to persuade the Greens to properly support him,” a source close to Labour leader Jack McConnell said.

“This is not a confidence and supply model—this is a model of no confidence and instability.

“Alex Salmond’s biggest test will be on Wednesday, to see whether he will be elected First Minister by the parliament

“He now has just 49 votes and will need to see whether that will be enough for him.”

Speaking during a radio interview yesterday, Mr Salmond insisted an SNP administration would work with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.

Remarks by the Chancellor in the final week of the Holyrood election campaign that he could not support “a policy or a leader that wants to break up Britain” were seized on at the time by the SNP as a suggestion that Mr Brown would not work with Mr Salmond as First Minister.

But as Mr Brown launched his campaign to succeed Tony Blair yesterday, Mr Salmond struck a conciliatory tone in an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s.

He wished Mr Brown well in his campaign and went on, “Once he gets over the shock I think he, like me, will want to get down to working in Scotland’s best interest.

“If I become First Minister, and if he becomes Prime Minister, that’s certainly what my attitude will be and I’m sure that’s what Gordon’s attitude will be as well once he gets time to think about it.”