THE Scottish Government has struck a deal with the Greens to ensure the Budget is passed into law.
Finance Secretary Kate Forbes announced the agreement while giving evidence to the Finance and Constitution Committee.
The Greens have helped push through each of the Scottish Government's five budgets in this parliamentary term, every time extracting concessions from the Finance Secretary.
Last year, the main ask of the party was free concessionary bus travel for young people, which Forbes agreed to extend to those under 22 years old in this round of negotiations.
Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie said he was "delighted" his party's "constructive approach" had again yielded results.
In return for their support, Forbes has agreed to pay rises for public sector workers, amounting to £800, or around 4%, for those earning under £25,000, 2% for those between £25,000 and £49,000 and 1% above that.
The Greens also secured Covid-19 relief payments of up to £130 for low-income families as well as two further instalments of £100 each in August and December for families with children eligible for free school meals.
Half a million families will receive the smaller payment, while 170,000 will be eligible for the full £330, the Greens have said.
All primary school pupils in Scotland will also be able to claim free school meals during term time, under the new plans, and £40 million will be invested in active travel, energy efficiency and other environmental efforts.
The Finance Secretary said: "I'll be able to say more at stage three but I wanted to take the opportunity to update the committee transparently on this recent development."
While support from the Greens now guarantees the passage of the budget on Tuesday, talks are continuing with the Scottish LibDems, who supported the Bill at its first stage in Holyrood after receiving concessions on mental health and education funding.
Harvie said: "I'm delighted that once again our constructive approach has delivered real results for the people who need it most.
"The Covid household relief payment will direct money to those households who have struggled in this crisis, providing funding for essential supplies."
He added: "This year's budget cements the impact the Scottish Greens have had on Scotland's priorities over the last five years.
"From fairer taxes to local services, we've shown every year that Green MSPs will get things done to build a fairer and greener Scotland."
Scottish Labour will also back the budget if it includes an increase in social care workers' pay to £12 per hour, rising to £15 in the next parliament.
The party said the median hourly wage for UK care workers is currently £9.50 and a pay rise would benefit as many as 200,000 people in Scotland.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Sarwar said a deal with his party would have cost more than the Greens.
He said: "It's not a case of Labour being on the sidelines, it's the opposite in fact.
"Jackie Baillie has been in active negotiations with Kate Forbes at before stage one, at stage one, before stage two, at stage two and as we head into stage three.
"Those negotiations were actually working fairly positively from my understanding from Jackie. I think they were having very good discussions about getting a fair pay increase for our social care staff but it seems they have been able to strike a cheaper deal, to put it bluntly, with the Greens.
"Therefore we await to see the details of what level of pay increase we're looking at for NHS staff and there's very little comment from the Greens and the SNP about what it looks like for social care staff, so that's something we'll need to assess over the coming hours.
"If it is a fair deal, we will back the budget - if it's not a fair deal, we will continue to press for what we believe is a fair deal for those on the front line in our NHS and social care sector."
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