The Scottish Greens will try to force the SNP to shift further to the Left and oppose any new oil fields after soaring to a series of successes.
The party, which was previously in a partnership agreement with the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon, aims to gain even more influence in the next parliamentary term.
As its vote soared, it even managed to snatch Ms Sturgeon’s former seat of Glasgow Southside and defeat Culture Secretary Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central.
New MSP for Glasgow Southside Holly Bruce, who is a self-declared Corbynista and previously joined Labour to back Jeremy Corbyn to become leader, said the Greens will ‘push the SNP to be better at their politics’.
She said members would have to vote on whether to agree to any SNP/Green coalition, but added: ‘It really does depend on a number of things. Obviously the Bute House Agreement was cancelled and disrupted but we would have to build up trust with the SNP again to even get there.
‘We want to be elected on the manifesto that we’ve stood on, which is to get free bus travel, free childcare from the age of six months and to get climate action.’
She also insisted the Greens will push for another referendum despite John Swinney failing to secure the SNP majority which he says is a mandate for another vote.
Angus Robertson shakes hands with Lorna Slater after she wins Edinburgh Central
Scottish Greens Glasgow Southside candidate Holly Bruce who also entered Holyrood
She said: ‘A vote for the Scottish Greens is a vote for independence, and we believe if there is a pro-independence majority elected to the Scottish parliament that is a mandate for another referendum.’
On her previous support for Mr Corbyn, Ms Bruce said: ‘I was attracted to Corbyn because of a lot of his socialist policies, I wanted to vote for him as leader of Labour at that time, but that was back in 2015, before Brexit, before we saw extremes emanate from the Tories, before Trump’s America, so things have changed.
‘And I think with Zack Polanski down in England and Wales, he is speaking to folk that are also frustrated and want to see change too.
‘Both of those politicians [Corbyn and Polanski] are big characters and are really good at making politics accessible to people, and are rooted in socialism.’
Ms Bruce won 36.5 per cent of the vote in Glasgow Southside, with the SNP’s Kaukab Stewart on 28.4 per cent, Labour’s Rashid Hussain on 19 per cent, and Reform’s Gordon Millar on 7.8 per cent.
Asked if there had been a backlash against Ms Sturgeon and the SNP, she said: ‘I wouldn’t say it’s a backlash, I’d say Nicola Sturgeon served the community well for over 15 years but now they want a Green and they voted me today.’
Asked about the prospect of working with the SNP again after defeating Mr Robertson in Edinburgh Central, former Scottish Government minister Lorna Slater said: ‘They still haven’t published that energy strategy with the presumption against new oil and gas in it.
‘So there would have to be some realignment there before we could consider something of that nature.’