Alastair Campbell has accused Nicola Sturgeon of "floating above politics" and the SNP of "inhaling their own propaganda".

The spin doctor, who as head of communications was at the heart of Tony Blair's Labour government, said the nationalists would end up believing they had a "divine will to rule" and warned the electorate would turn away from them as they turned away from Labour in the past.

Speaking at the launch of Eastwood MSP Ken Macintosh's bid for re-election, Mr Campbell, 58, said: "The SNP have been in power for nine years and they are going around acting like they own every part of the country and every single strand of opinion in the country."

Mr Campbell said that the Scottish Labour Party had "allowed itself to get very complacent, arrogant and took people for granted".

He added: "In the SNP we are now seeing the same stuff, being very complacent, arrogant and taking people for granted.

"There's no point in saying Nicola Sturgeon is anything other than popular, there's no doubt, but she is floating above politics - that's unreal. Ultimately, politics in government is about taking difficult decisions, not floating above the world.

"What you've got is this sort of mood and aura around the SNP, and Nicola Sturgeon in particular, but ultimately that's all there is.

"I do think they have been inhaling their own propaganda too much. There will come a point where they think they have a divine right to rule."

Mr Campbell criticised the First Minister for what he said was a lack of a strong message from the SNP conference and urged Labour supporters to take the party to task on the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures which showed a deficit of £15bn in Scotland last financial year.

He said when working with former prime minister Tony Blair at conferences, they would have wanted a bigger argument than the SNP put forward and accused Ms Sturgeon of "talking to the people in the hall" in her speech about a "drive to independence" rather than the electorate.

He added: "I don't think the people of Scotland want this election in Scotland to be about independence."

He said the SNP had to have a "little bit of humility" about the GERS figures - which, he said, showed they got the economic basis for independence "horrifically wrong".

He added: "She could come out and say 'I got it wrong' but they don't like doing that."

An SNP spokesman said: "Alastair Campbell was one of the key architects of Blairism, which has left a toxic legacy that Scottish Labour are still unable to shake off.

"The SNP has a record to be proud of - with more young people in work, education or training than ever before, crime at a 41 year low and some of the very best quality healthcare to be found anywhere in the world.

"We go into May's election asking for voters in Scotland to back Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP on that record and our vision to keep Scotland moving forward."