Andrew Whitaker: Labour have more than just control of Holyrood at stake in this election

The First Minister does of course have a case, the whole point of devolution being that the election is about choosing a government for Scotland.

However, Mr Salmond's attempt to stop Labour benefiting from a backlash against the coalition government, doesn't change the crucial importance of the Holyrood election to Mr Miliband's fledgling leadership.

For Labour to regain power in Scotland, just a year after being turfed out of office at Westminster would be a huge boost for Mr Miliband as he attempts to rebuild his party in the wake of the General Election defeat.

By the same measure, a Holyrood election defeat for Labour in May would be a bitter blow to Mr Miliband and would leave his party with no prospect of power in both London and Edinburgh for a lengthy period.

Mr Miliband will be fully aware of the importance of next month's Holyrood poll and he would undoubtedly see a returned Labour government at Holyrood as a key part of the party's rehabilitation across the UK as a whole.

The Labour leader will of course have the same view about next year's London mayoral election, when the astute and colourful left-winger Ken Livingstone is hoping for another Lazarus-style political comeback.

Former London mayor and Greater London Council leader Mr Livingstone's attempt to return to power following his defeat at the hands of Tory Boris Johnson in 2008 represents a key challenge for a Labour Party trying to return to power at UK level.

Mr Miliband will view the Holyrood and London mayoral elections as the two key elections where the party must win back power if it is present itself as a serious Westminster government in waiting.

Mr Miliband has arguably been unfairly criticised by some commentators over his leadership style and has been quite successful in swiftly uniting warring factions.? Just a year after Gordon's Brown's government fell from office at Westminster exhausted by in-fighting and controversy, Mr Miliband has managed to knock his party into reasonable shape and has avoided the internecine warfare that gripped Labour for much of the 1980s after it last lost power in 1979.

Regardless of Mr Salmond's protests Mr Miliband will quite understandably hope that Scottish voters view a Labour Holyrood administration as being best placed to stand up to the Tory-Lib Dem government or at least as the best way of hitting out at the UK coalition.

A Labour victory in May would take on much more significance than simply being the old gang back in charge at Holyrood and could dramatically change the dynamic of UK politics.