SENIOR SNP figures hope it fails in its bid to take one of Scotland’s biggest councils over fears it will damage the party’s reputation and independence ambitions, the current authority leader has said.

Jim Logue, the Labour head of North Lanarkshire Council, said several political rivals had voiced fears over their SNP colleagues ability to run the authority, the country’s fourth biggest, given the ongoing internal turmoil within the opposition.

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Mr Logue, who ousted the veteran Jim McCabe as leader in a coup last year, described the SNP opposition as “the most dysfunctional political group I have ever seen”, adding it was riven with personal rivalries, parliamentarian interference and family cliques.

His claims come amid further internal SNP rancour, with former Scottish Government minister accused of backing a candidate standing against the party in Airdrie.

Local kingpin Michael Coyle, who failed party vetting but was reinstated on appeal, includes endorsements from Mr Neil for his wife on his campaign leaflets. Agnes Coyle is standing as an independent against her husband and another SNP candidate, Paul DiMascio. Her own campaign literature also includes endorsements from Mr Neil.

Local elections analysis: Tories and succession rows the expected story of South Lanarkshire

In recent days it is also understood that an SNP candidate in North Lanarkshire has been suspended from his job within the party, which is also being attributed to the persistence of internal feuding.

Mr Logue said: “The SNP is locally so toxic that some of its more rational members have said it simply can’t be sustained and they hope it does not win next week.

“They know it isn’t for purpose, that they can’t deliver for the residents of North Lanarkshire given the squabbling and bitterness and that it would effect the image of the SNP. It’s clear that for the next few years local government has some serious challenges and if they aren’t fit to take over this council then those I’ve spoken with fear how it reflects on their desire to run the country.”

One former SNP candidate and election agent within the authority said: “The view of party headquarters has been that this is just a squabble in a political bubble and that it will resolve when in power.

“We’re now just a week from that, things are as bad as ever and when there’s real power, salaries and the public’s money involved how do they think things will improve?”

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Despite having an outright Labour majority since its formation in 1996, North Lanarkshire was one of just four local authority areas to vote Yes during the 2014 Referendum and since then the SNP has enjoyed several local by-election successes. Long-standing and integral figures within Labour have also lost their grip on power within the council’s boundaries at both Westminster and Holyrood.

The SNP may have faced three years of its MacMafia feuding and allegations of cronyism and fratricidal infighting, some of which have become legal, but it is questionable as to whether this is having any impact on the electorate.

With little by way of major local issues in contention, the SNP, like their colleagues in some other areas, are pitching the need for change. Mr Logue is also not without former comrades making his re-election a more uphill struggle than it already is.

Upon taking the reins over a year ago Mr Logue sacked a number of the previous regime’s old guard, including some key players in the infamous Monklands scandal, leading to their exit from Labour, with most of the dissidents standing under an Independent Alliance banner.

Mr Logue has also taken the high-risk strategy of confronting long-standing corruption allegations surrounding the authority by ordering an investigation, calling in the police and simply using the word “corruption”. While he has created distance between himself and the previous regime within both Labour and the council. Whether the public have the political antennae to pick this up is an altogether different matter thought notably it has not been an agenda the SNP opposition has been keen to pursue.

Local elections analysis: Tories and succession rows the expected story of South Lanarkshire

Perhaps more so than Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and its counterpart to the south represent Labour’s best chances of holding power in a major authority and it is understood the area has been the focus for party resources. But a tradition of wildcard independents makes coalition permutations tricky.

An SNP spokeswoman said: “The SNP has 44 candidates working hard in their local communities seeking to win next Thursday to end decades of Labour mismanagement.”

She said the Alex Neil endorsements were lifted from local media and would not comment further.