Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has opened the door to alliances with the talks with the SNP over Brexit and the budget.
Mr Rennie said he has spoken to Finance Secretary Derek Mackay offering to sign up to the SNP budget if the party will commit extra cash to education.
And he told the UK party’s conference in Bournemouth he wants to open talks on an anti-Brexit alliance with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Mr Rennie said he had spoken to Mr Mackay about getting Lib Dem manifesto pledges to put £200m into education and another £200m into mental health last week and had a “positive discussion”.
He said: “They need our support for the budget and, if they are serious, education is one of the areas we can assist on.
“He knows there is an issue with the constitutional gap and we would need a deal to overcome people’s concerns we were working with the SNP because we have diametrically opposed views.
“People would expect us to get a whopping big deal to cross that divide, but we have gained more seats since the last budget so we are bullish about what we can get.”
Mr Rennie also said he hoped the SNP would back a second referendum on the Brexit deal.
He told delegates: “I can announce today we will open talks with the Scottish Government this week to ask them to back our campaign to give the people across the UK the chance of an exit from Brexit.”
Speaking afterwards, Mr Rennie said he thought there was space for broad consensus across Scottish parties.
He said: “The SNP feel as passionate as we do about Brexit and the damage it could cause in Scotland.
“They have already alienated their Brexit supporters so they cannot risk alienating those who are pro-EU and that makes this a serious option.”
But Mr Rennie also attacked the SNP record.
He said: “They spend more time obsessing about power and control than delivering on health, on crime and on education.
“People are fed up waiting on the SNP to deliver on their promises and they will tell the SNP loud and clear – your time is up.”
An SNP spokeswoman said: “Brexit is a disaster which gets worse every day under the Tories’ chaotic bungling.
“But Willie Rennie’s calls for a second EU vote would be more credible if he had not backed the Tories in imposing Brexit on Scotland by trying to deny the country a choice on its future.”
