NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday set the tone for the new parliament by slapping down Ruth Davidson for “over-reaching” and saying the SNP manifesto will be implemented in full.

The First Minister wasted no time putting the Tory leader in her place by saying the SNP had won a “very clear and unequivocal mandate” to deliver its policies, despite the party losing its overall majority at Holyrood.

Sturgeon delivered her defiant message as she gathered with SNP MSPs at the Kelpies near Falkirk ahead of the 63-strong group’s first meeting.

After emphasising the breadth of the SNP’s win - more than one million votes cast and every seat won in six of Scotland’s seven cities - she said it was clear that people had endorsed the SNP’s plans, and she did not need to build a consensus in parliament to deliver them.

She said her opponents were divided on many issues, adding that she would work to find common ground “not so much because I have to do it but because I want to do it”.

In a newspaper article yesterday, Davidson, the new opposition leader, said the SNP’s minority government meant Sturgeon “cannot simply click her fingers and propose another independence referendum if and when she wishes", adding the parliament was "now equipped to ensure that a fresh SNP drive on independence can be halted in its tracks".

But Sturgeon warned Unionists not to sound the death knell for independence, given the Greens' six MSPs stood on a manifesto supporting a petition on whether to hold another referendum, meaning a majority of MSPs, 69 of 129, were still in favour of independence.

She said: “It’s also the case that the SNP won the election and the Tories, although they had a good night in the election, they didn’t win the election.

“Ruth Davidson should perhaps be careful of overreaching herself. I have been very clear that Scotland will only become independent when a majority of people in Scotland want to be independent.

"We should respect the will of the people at all times, and that applies not just to the SNP but to other parties as well."

Although the SNP now returns to minority government, Sturgeon said it was a very different picture compared to the 2007-2011 parliament, when it was the largest party by a single seat.

The SNP now had more MSPs than the Tories (31), Labour (24) and the LibDems (5) combined, she pointed out.

“We are just two seats short of having an overall majority,” she said. “That's a very strong position to be in. We face an opposition that will not be united, I don't think, on too many issues. So, yes I will reach out ... I want to find and build on common ground where I can, but I will do that not so much because I have to do it but because I want to do it.”

Asked about Davidson’s claim that the SNP has no mandate to demand a second referendum on independence, the First Minister said: ‘The Scottish Parliament has a majority of MSPs who support independence – the SNP, obviously, but the Green Party also support independence, their number of seats went up. There’s an independence-supporting majority in Parliament.”

Senior SNP sources said the Tories had failed to understand the implications of replacing Scottish Labour, the party that anchored the No campaign, as the opposition at Holyrood.

With Labour no longer a credible political force, and the main opposition party in Holyrood now linked to Westminster austerity cuts, the path to independence would be clearer, not harder, one source said.

“It [being the main opposition] might make for a jolly photo-call on a Friday afternoon but it’s bloody stupid for them if they’ve created a very different political landscape for Scotland.

“Can you imagine what we’ll be able to do at First Minister’s Questions each week? It’ll be these folk [Tories] criticising the government and attacking us. I can not wait.”

The new intake of MSPs will be sworn in on Thursday, and Sturgeon will put herself forward for re-election as First Minister in a parliamentary vote the week afterwards. One of her first jobs is expected to be a cabinet reshuffle.

Education Secretary Angela Constance is widely tipped for the chop after a decline in school standards after Sturgeon’s emphasis on the need to improve educational performance.

Among those tipped for promotions are returning MSP Shirley Anne-Somerville and SNP convert Jeane Freeman, a former special adviser to Labour First Minister Jack McConnell.