The Scottish Greens will use their position in the Scottish Government to "focus minds" in UK Labour on climate change action and end a "status quo" in politics.

Speaking ahead of the party's spring conference in Edinburgh on Saturday, co-convenors Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater said too much time had been spent "setting targets" and "back slapping" without meaningful action on reaching emissions targets.

Mr Harvie said an incoming Labour government must reinstate its commitment to spend £28 billion on the green economy - a spending pledge made and then dropped by Sir Keir Starmer's party.

He pointed to a recent Climate Change Committee report, which showed a number of industries failing to reduce carbon emissions, calling its findings "deeply worrying".

Mr Harvie said: "We've seen decades of propaganda, of denial, of conspiracies generated by the fossil fuel industry that has held the world back.

"If we had made this change back in the 70s or the 80s, if we'd begun that transition, then it could have been done slowly and easily.

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"We've got a lot of catching up to do, and we're clearly not where we should be in terms of the 2030 target."

The Scottish Government set a target of reaching net zero emissions by 2045 with interim targets of a 75% reduction in emissions by 2030 and 90% by 2040.

He added: "We need to continue to put pressure on the UK government to exercise the powers that are sadly still in their hands.

"The UK Tory government isn't going to do it.

"And the incoming Labour government needs to be under immediate pressure to drop the status quo politics that they seem to be offering at the moment and embrace the change that's needed."

Ms Slater said the Bute House agreement - a deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens - would help ensure progress on climate action.

She said: "Having Scottish Greens in the room helps because suddenly what was impossible a minute ago becomes possible and I think that's the big difference that we're going to see is a step change from us being in government.

"It's time to have a bit less patience for the kind of politicians who say there's a climate emergency but then who block climate action, whether it's demanding more road building, opposing the buildings programme, wanting everlasting aviation growth or indeed, cheering from the rafters with new oil and gas extraction."

Last year former SNP ministers, including Kate Forbes and Fergus Ewing, called for party members to be given a vote on its future while opposition parties have claimed the deal is “utterly dysfunctional” in reference to the scrapping of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) and the failed deposit return scheme.

Mr Harvie insisted the first minister is open to input from his Scottish Greens colleagues while Ms Slater said the Bute House Agreement is "constructive and getting things done".

He said: "I think Humza Yousaf takes a collegiate approach to the government, and I think that's probably an inevitable part of the change in generation that there's been with Nicola Sturgeon.

"She was someone I had - and still have - a huge amount of time and respect for. She was at the top of her party and at the top of Scottish politics for such a long time, she had a huge personal authority in the role.

"With Humza Yousaf there's a more collegiate approach to government that's, I think, very consistent with the idea of sharing power between political parties and trying to work constructively where there's genuine common ground and sometimes push each other out of our comfort zones."

Ms Slater added: "People want to see politicians rolling up their sleeves, sitting down and going, 'We might not agree on everything, but let's agree on something.

"That is always a challenge when two political parties we have different priorities, different focuses.

"Some people don't like having Greens in the room.

"There are some people would much rather have the kind of politics where we all shout at each other and call each other names.

"But I don't think that regular voters want that."

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have accused the Scottish Greens of being "the only green party anywhere in the world to abandon its traditions and swap environmentalism for nationalism".

Scottish Liberal Democrat net-zero spokeswoman Sanne Dijkstra-Downie said: "The Scottish Greens seem to be experiencing something of an existential crisis.

"They've changed colour to something a lot dirtier and a good bit more desperate.

"We shouldn't forget that in the first year they were in Government, source emissions rose.

"Since then, Patrick Harvie and co have taken to backing brutal climate cuts and whitewashing a string of SNP failures."

But Mr Harvie said: "I would never accuse the Liberal Democrats of abandoning their principles, because I don't think they ever had any."