´óÏó´«Ã½

Last week I reported on the extraordinary tale of how two Green members of the Scottish Parliament had effectively managed to block the government's budget for next year.

Never before, I suggested, had the Green Party held such sway in British politics. (.)

The had held out for more spending on home insulation to be included in the budget package. Originally they were offered £22m. Not enough, the Greens cried. So, with about ten minutes to go before the vote, the offered another £11m. But this new money came with such vague conditions the Greens were highly sceptical and duly helped vote the Budget down.

"It's amazing," the Scottish Greens Co-convenor told me in the midst last week of last week's dramatic brinkmanship. "We've got more power with just two members than we had in the last Parliament when we had seven MSPs."

And those at Westminster hoping to hold the balance of power after the next UK election - , for instance, and various brands of nationalist - may like to study what happened in Scotland very carefully. It's possible to overplay your hand.

In the , agreed today, just £15m has been offered for home insulation, less than the Greens were offered under the first deal last Wednesday, and less than half what they might have got in the end.

Today's revised budget was passed by 123 votes to two - those two being Mr Harvie and his Green colleague.