In Aberdeen, the SNP’s Callum McCaig has just become the youngest council leader in the UK at the age of 26. Around 150 miles south, the Nationalists are hoping one of their more experienced campaigners is the right person to take the top council job in Glasgow.

Allison Hunter, a former teacher in her 60s who has served the party for over 40 years, was recently named the leader of the SNP group on Glasgow City Council following the election of James Dornan to the Scottish Parliament as Glasgow Cathcart’s MSP.

After the success the SNP enjoyed at the Scottish Parliament elections in Glasgow - gaining Anniesland, Cathcart, Kelvin and Shettleston from Labour - the party now has the city council in its sights.

"It was very exciting," commented the new leader on the election victory. "It was very telling I think that this was another message from the people to the politicians that they wanted change. They wanted not particularly independence but they wanted the Scottish Government to continue, to give them a mandate for better government.

"We have got to prove that we were worthy of all these votes. We have got to do the right things and we have to gain these people’s support on a permanent basis. Every election is different - the Westminster election, the Scottish Parliament election, the council election.

"They are all different, and they have a different dynamic. We think we have got a very good chance in Glasgow, but we are going to have to work at it. We will just wait and see. People want change, and a chance to reconnect with the council and have a bigger say in what is happening."

'Reconnectiveness'

Glasgow City Council is currently made up of 47 Labour councillors, 19 SNP, six Lib Dems, five Greens, one Conservative and one independent. If Mrs Hunter and her team are to build on their success in Holyrood, they will need to identify what issues matter most to Glaswegians. But what does the veteran politician think these will be?

"I think the issues will be what I call ‘reconnectiveness’. They (voters) have to feel that the council is listening to them. We are going through the processes - on having consultations on this, consultations on that, but somehow the people feel that the consultations are not actually bearing fruit. What they want they don’t see happening.

"There are problems in education in levels of attainment and we have to look at that and see what we can do. It is too soon to say what the SNP will do. I have only just got my feet under the table, but it is commonly understood that there is a problem in some places with attainment and that is got to be looked at."

Before attentions turn to next year, there is the small matter of a Westminster by-election this week in Inverclyde following the death of the highly respected Labour member, David Cairns.

While getting her "feet under the table" in Glasgow, Mrs Hunter has found some time to get on her campaigning shoes in Inverclyde in support of the SNP’s candidate, ex-Glasgow MSP Anne McLaughlin.

Mrs Hunter stated: "I think it is possible we could win in Inverclyde. It is a very short campaign, and we are doing a lot of work. There is a lot of support for us there and - although 14,500 is a huge majority to overturn - I think there is a chance we could do it.

"It would be a tremendous victory if we were to win it, and because it is a Westminster by-election it would send out further signals that people aren’t happy with the way they are currently being governed in Westminster. Victory would show people still trusted us, still supporting us, still on their side. I think it would show people wanted to change."

'Change' is a word Allison Hunter likes to use. After watching her party grow over the past 40 years into the majority administration in Holyrood, she believes the people of Glasgow want a different party in charge at the City Chambers. 

Will the SNP storm which blew Labour MSPs out of Glasgow earlier this year continue in Inverclyde and at the local elections? Watch this space.