THE SNP leadership are facing a rebellion over a planned deal to bring the Scottish Greens into government amid fears it could hamper the party's aim to improve its standing in the north east.

Last month Nicola Sturgeon announced the prospect of a “co-operation agreement” with Green MSPs, which could mean senior figures such as Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, the party’s co-leaders, taking up ministerial posts.

But the decision to open talks has upset some senior SNP members who fear that Green policies such as phasing out North Sea oil and gas risk weakening the SNP’s fragile grip in the north east of Scotland.

Prior to the annnouncement of the talks when there was public discussion of a possible coalition - later ruled out - one SNP insider was very opposed to the prospect telling The National there was a feeling the Greens don't do "grown up politics".

The figure told us: "I think the logistics of this are about grown up politics and I don't think the Greens are there yet."

The Conservatives took several seats from the SNP in recent elections, including Angus Robertson's former Moray constituency at the 2017 General Election. It also lost former party leader Alex Salmond's Gordon seat in 2017, but won it back in 2019.

Robertson returned to frontline politics last month after being elected MSP for Edinburgh Central. He was appointed constitution secretary by the First Minister in her post election reshuffle.

The north east was traditionally a SNP stronghold but support in the fishing and farming area weakened in the immediate aftermath of Brexit with the party now beginning to win voters back.

According to a report in The Times today one SNP minister has called the Greens “dangerous” to friends and questioned their lack of political experience amid the suggestion they could be given jobs in government.

Harvie has been an MSP since 2003 but Slater was elected only last month.

SNP backbenchers have also expressed their concerns about the potential impact on the SNP’s electoral prospects in the northeast and the lack of consultation before the decision to open talks.

A full coalition deal has been ruled out but announcing the talks to Holyrood the First Minister said that ministerial jobs for Green MSPs are a possibility.

The SNP won 64 seats in the Holyrood election — one short of a majority — and SNP strategists think a co-operation deal with the Greens could offer a stable majority as well as help refresh the administration.

The SNP have been in power since 2007, governing as a minority government for most of that period, except from 2011 to 2016 when they held a majority in the Scottish Parliament.

During the tail end of the last parliament, votes from the Greens allowed John Swinney to survive several votes of no confidence.

“We are actively aware of the concerns but the government will not give any succour to the more extreme demands from the Greens,” a senior SNP source told The Times.

Discussions at Bute House, the First Minister’s official residence, began in the weeks after the election, although progress has been slow.

Talks are expected to continue over the summer, with some in the SNP keen to have the Greens on board not only to provide a more stable base for the government but also to help its environmental credentials before the Cop26 climate change conference in November in Glasgow.

Yesterday Harvie criticised Sturgeon for “failing to live up to the rhetoric” on environmental issues after it emerged that Scotland had missed its climate change targets for the third year.

He warned that Scottish farmers faced the “perfect storm” of adapting to climate change while protecting wildlife and urged Sturgeon to tell rural communities they “need to see change if they are to have a sustainable future”.

The First Minister said that one of the reasons she hoped a government deal could be reached with the Greens was “that it is important that we are all challenged to go further and faster on the issue”.

She added: “The determination is there, which I am sure is shared across the chamber, so let us celebrate the progress that we have made but also use it to motivate us all to go further.”

A poll last month found the majority of people who voted for the SNP in the Holyrood elections believe it should form a Yes coalition government with the Greens.

The Panelbase research, conducted for The Sunday Times, showed 54% of SNP voters back a coalition. Some 35% preferred the SNP to govern as a minority government, as they did from 2016.

A total of 11% of SNP voters told pollsters that they did not know which option they preferred.

The poll found that, among voters as a whole, 34% would like a coalition, 32% would prefer an SNP minority government and 34% said they did not know.