Humza Yousaf's position as First Minister hangs in the balance as he faces a no confidence motion in Holyrood next week.

It's possible Mr Yousaf may not survive the vote brought by the Tories after the collapse of the Bute House Agreement today.

But even if he narrowly survives the move to remove him, his position in office and as SNP leader has been severely weakened.

Just two days ago, Mr Yousaf was singing the praises of the Bute House Agreement and saying there was "no need" or "want" for SNP members to have have another vote on the matter.

Despite repeated warnings from some within the SNP that the deal may be nearing the end of its shelf life he still gave it his full backing.

On Tuesday, he said: “I hope that cooperation agreement will continue and I hope that Green members will also see the benefit of that cooperation.”

That he ended the pact today after so forcefully backing it then was clearly a huge political U-turn and climbdown.

It makes him look rather swayed by events and pushed into making such a crucial decision rather than seizing the initiative - which would have been the case had he pulled out of the pact much earlier.

A cannier leader could have pulled out of the Bute House Agreement at the weekend after the Greens fury; a cannier one still ahead of the announcement that the Scottish Government was to drop its target to reduce carbon emissions by 75% by 2030.

Did he not pause to contemplate ahead of last Thursday's decision by his Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero Mairi McAllan that such an announcement would potentially put the Bute House Agreement at  breaking point?

Was he perhaps too trusting of assurances from Green MSPs that all would be fine if new measures were put in place to "accelerate" climate action?

Now Mr Yousaf is facing a no confidence motion within days.

Should he not win the vote, it would be incredibly difficult for him to survive as First Minister, though the parliamentary rules say what action he takes following such a result would be a matter for him.

For him to remain in office, defying the will of MSPs, would be a statement that he is content to ignore the wishes of parliament.

This is hardly a stance in keeping with a democratically elected leader.

At the time of writing the Tories, Labour, the Lib Dems are all going to back the no confidence motion.

It remains to be seen yet how the Greens will vote. My assessment given their reaction to the ending of the Bute House Agreement is that they will be in no mood to come to Mr Yousaf's rescue.

Later this afternoon they confirmed they would support the motion of no confidence.

Alba MSP Ash Regan - the former SNP minister whom he defeated along with Kate Forbes in last year's leadership contest - has written to Mr Yousaf with a list of demands in return for her support.

And given parliamentary arithmetic her vote to back him could enable his survival should all SNP MSPs also continue to support him, as would be expected.

But even if he does see off the confidence motion and fight on as First Minister next week his actions over the past few days have dented his authority and raised fresh concerns over his leadership.

One senior figure in the SNP told the Herald on Sunday just last weekend it was now just a question of 'when not if' Mr Yousaf would be standing down.

The events since then bring this development considerably closer.