Scott Macnab: The SNP may struggle to unseat rival MSPs because they have built up such strong local followings

ALEX Salmond has his sights firmly set on wiping out the last bastion of Labour domination in Scotland by capturing Glasgow for the SNP when voters go to the poll in next month’s council elections.

The city is the Nationalists’ no.1 target, and the First Minister would dearly love to see SNP administrations in control of the country’s biggest city – where the party has traditionally struggled – as well as Edinburgh. Party strategists see it as the perfect springboard into the independence campaign which will get under way officially in the immediate aftermath of the council vote.

The elections are also being viewed as the first real test for the new opposition leaders. Labour’s Johann Lamont, Conservative Ruth Davidson and Willie Rennie of the Liberal Democrats are contesting their first elections since taking over the helm of their respective parties and will be desperate for signs that they can stem the Nationalists’ seemingly inexorable tide across the Scottish political landscape.

Perhaps, though, this is to read these elections through Holyrood-tinted specs and miss much of the internal dynamics at work.

Many Nationalist candidates privately admit they will struggle to unseat established Labour councillors in key target seats simply because their local appeal is so strong.

And while independence may dominate the agenda among the Holyrood political classes – journalists included – the concerns which dominate councillors’ surgery meetings can be markedly different. Litter, potholes and dilapidated town centres are more likely to be at the heart of local concerns.

Indeed, the further away you get from Edinburgh, the more the allure of the main parties tends to diminish. The Western Isles, Orkney, Shetland, Highland and Moray administrations are either run or dominated by independents, and that situation appears unlikely to end in May.

And perhaps it’s better that communities stop for a moment and think about the people they will actually elect rather than ticking the party box. In many ways, councillors actually have a lot more clout than MSPs in terms of getting things done. They have direct access to budgets and often enjoy considerable power on council committees and sub-groups, governing areas such as education, leisure and housing. Backbench MSPs often can do little more than resorting to letter-writing or lobbying government.

And even when parties dominate, the most unlikely coalitions emerge – with Labour/Tory, Labour/SNP/independent/Liberal Democrat and Lib Dem/SNP among the coalitions in operation around the country.

One might gently suggest our political leaders at Holyrood could take a lesson from such a grown-up approach to reaching consensus.