DOUGLAS Ross has sought to stoke tensions within the Scottish Government by accusing Humza Yousaf’s SNP of dancing to the “extremist tune” of the Scottish Greens.

At a noisy and often angry FMQs, the Scottish Tory leader said the First Minister had also "abandoned rural Scotland" by maintaining the joint government deal.

It was intended to sow division between the two parties ahead of the SNP’s independence convention in Dundee on Saturday, which will also discuss the general election.

Some SNP MPs are unhappy at the prospect of having to defend controversial Green-led policies in the campaign.

Mr Ross also raised former SNP rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing voting against his own government on Tuesday in a confidence vote on Green minister Lorna Slater.

The SNP is now considering whether to withdraw the party whip from the Inverness MSP, after he sided with the Tories in a call to sack Ms Slater for alleged incompetence.

Mr Ewing is a fierce critic of the drinks container recycling scheme promoted by Ms Slater which has been delayed until at least 2025 following a UK Government decision.

Circularity Scotland, the company set up to run the scheme, went into administration this week with the loss of up to 60 jobs after the drinks industry refused to keep funding it.

The state-owned Scottish National Investment Bank also said it could lose £9million of public funding it advanced to Circularity Scotland to help with its start-up costs.

At FMQs, Mr Ross asked Mr Yousaf if he intended to “sack Fergus Ewing”.

Mr Yousaf refused to say, insisting it was a matter for the SNP group at Holyrood.

Mr Ross said: “This is a Government issue because it was a Government vote of no confidence in a Government minister. Surely Humza Yousaf can be honest with the people across Scotland if he takes it seriously that one of his own MSPs refused to support him?”

He said Mr Ewing had expressed his lack of confidence in Ms Slater “because of her dreadful performance in post”, especially her handling of the deposit return scheme.

Mr Ross said Mr Yousaf was ready to lose “a party stalwart who is standing up for Scottish business” while “keeping an incompetent Green minister” in the government.

He also contrasted the situation with Mr Yousaf’s repeated refusal to suspend Nicola Sturgeon after her arrest as a suspect and release without charge earlier this month.

The former first minister was questioned for almost seven hours by detectives investigating whether £660,000 raised by the SNP for Indyref2 was spent on other things.

“It looks as though Humza Yousaf, the First Minister who will not suspend Nicola Sturgeon, who is under police investigation, will suspend Fergus Ewing for challenging Green incompetence,” said Mr Ross.

Mr Yousaf pointed out MSPs had voted down the motion of no confidence in Ms Slater.

He also said the blame for the delay to the deposit return scheme lay “squarely” with the UK Government, which said it could not include glass recycling.

He said: “The reason why this Parliament backed the Government, backed Lorna Slater, when it came to that vote of no confidence is because they know it was the UK Government’s 11th-hour intervention that completely torpedoed the deposit return scheme.”

The exchange took place before the public announcement that Mr Ewing’s mother, the SNP icon Winnie Ewing, had died at the age of 93.

With the Royal Highland Show opening in Edinburgh, the two leaders also clashed over rural affairs, with Mr Yousaf quoting Martin Kennedy, the president of the National Farmers Union Scotland, previously criticising Brexit.

Mr Ross then quoted Mr Kennedy speaking this morning about the Scottish Greens.

Mr Kennedy had said the “hardening of the green agenda ... is giving cause for serious concern not only for rural businesses but for the Scottish economy as a whole”.

Did that not show the SNP had “abandoned rural Scotland”, Mr Ross asked.

“It’s clearer than ever before that the extremist Green tail is wagging the SNP dog.

“Humza Yousaf has described the SNP-Green Deal as ‘worth its weight in gold’ but the Greens’ influence is having a damaging effect on every policy area.

“The extremist Greens in Government seem to be calling an awful lot of the shots of this SNP Government. Their influence is having a damaging effect on every policy area. 

“On the deposit return scheme, they are risking jobs and businesses. 

“On farming, they are risking rural livelihoods. 

“On gender reform, they are risking women’s rights. 

“On fishing, they are risking the very future of the industry. 

“On oil and gas, they are risking Scotland’s energy security. 

“The SNP is so out of touch with mainstream Scotland because it is being dragged that way by the Scottish Greens. 

“Just why is Humza Yousaf, in the words of one of his MSPs, dancing to the tune of an extremist party?"

The First Minister said it was Mr Ross who was out of touch with the public as the leader of “the third party in Scotland”

He said: “We are in that agreement because I think that people want different political parties - yes, the SNP and the Greens have differences - coming together to work in the national interest. 

“But why else is that co-operation agreement so important? It is because the number one issue facing not only Scotland but the entire planet is the climate emergency, which threatens the sustainability of our planet.

“Time and time again, when we bring forward actions to tackle that climate emergency, where are the Conservatives? They oppose every single measure. 

“Why do they oppose every single measure? Because, frankly, they are morphing into climate change deniers.”