First Minister Alex Salmond has accused the opposition of putting 35,000 jobs at risk by helping defeat his minority administration's budget.
The charge came at First Minister's Questions in Holyrood, where Mr Salmond said the jobs were threatened through the uncertainty which now surrounded the extra £1.8billion spending which formed part of the defeated SNP-led budget.
In tense exchanges, Iain Gray, Labour Party leader in Holyrood, claimed: "The SNP approached the serious matter of the Scottish budget with reckless brinkmanship and arrogance."
But Mr Salmond accused Labour of wrecking the budget by putting "their own narrow interest" before jobs for Scotland.
He told MSPs: "(The) £1.8billion is 35,000 jobs - and sooner or later the Labour Party had better realise, as the first ever opposition party to vote against a budget at Stage 3 in this Parliament, it's 35,000 jobs they are jeopardising."
Mr Gray called the First Minister's claim "gratuitous scaremongering".
The SNP are insisting the prospect of an early Holyrood election if their £33billion budget was rejected again was not an idle threat. John Swinney, the Scottish Finance secretary, is trying to salvage the Scottish Government's spending plans after they were voted down by MSPs.
The exchanges on Thursday began with Mr Salmond telling MSPs he would be meeting opposition leaders later in the day to discuss "taking forward the budget process to completion".
Mr Swinney had contacted all local councils to explain the circumstances that threatened to disrupt their own budgeting.
Mr Gray retorted that the Finance secretary had said it was his duty to put forward a budget that convinced Parliament.
"I agree - and last night he acknowledged he had failed in that duty," said Mr Gray. "He failed because the SNP approached the serious matter of the Scottish budget with reckless brinkmanship and arrogance - hubris, indeed."
Mr Gray welcomed the First Minister's meetings with opposition parties - and asked how Mr Salmond intended "to change his approach" to secure support for the revised Budget Bill.
Mr Salmond replied: "The budget failed because the Labour Party as the principal opposition party decided to put their own narrow interest before employment and jobs for Scotland."
Citing a newspaper editorial critical of Labour, Mr Salmond went on to claim that Labour MSP John Park had made a "revealing" contribution in the debate.
Responding to the "realisation" that the SNP had offered Labour a guarantee on apprenticeships, Mr Park had asked if Mr Swinney could confirm the Scottish Government would have announced that anyway.
"As if an issue as important as apprenticeships should depend on who was making the announcement," said Mr Salmond.
There was a dead heat when MSPs voted on the Nationalist administration's spending plans, with 64 in favour and 64 against. The Budget Bill was backed by the SNP, the Tories and independent MSP Margo MacDonald.
Following Holyrood protocol, Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson then used his casting vote in favour of the status quo by voting against the budget.
Labour argued the budget did too little for jobs, the Liberal Democrats rejected it after their call for a 2p income tax cut was dismissed, and Greens said the offer of a £22million home insulation scheme was not enough.
A budget could come into force on April 1 provided that a bill is passed by February 14. A vote is currently expected on Feburary 11.
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