THE local election in Glasgow will deliver a historic outcome, whoever the result favours.

In the unlikely event Labour clings to power, the party will have halted a trilogy of electoral wipe-outs in a city of mythical proportions in its own sense of self and given itself a platform critical for any future return as a genuine force in Scotland.

Should the SNP oust Labour, it will have taken the keys to a city that sees itself as the economic and cultural pulse of Scotland and all but completed its replacement of Labour in Scotland.

Read more: SNP Glasgow landslide in sight as city polls back party

A successful Glasgow, it has been said, is a showcase for an independent Scotland.

Five years ago, on the back of the SNP’s Holyrood landslide, Labour was fighting a last stand in Glasgow.

That victory, an overall majority, was as surprising as it was emphatic and as much about the party’s resources and experience of street by street electoral combat as it was the SNP’s complacency and naivety.

The polarising effect of the independence referendum has, however, had a tangible impact on Labour’s ability to replicate that success.

The decimation of its MPs has taken with it paid-up campaigners, networks and resources and “sugar daddies” have been less forthcoming with assistance than in previous campaigns.

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Meanwhile, the resurgent Tories, for whom the Union and its trappings are a much more comfortable fit, are gnawing its support. The left has almost totally converged with the independence movement. UK leader Jeremy Corbyn is not helping the cause.

The most telling indicator of the move away from Labour has been the city by-elections since the 2014 independence referendum – a platform where Labour has always performed strongly with targeted and focused campaigns – with six SNP wins on the bounce.

Not only has the SNP stolen Labour’s clothes but its election strategies with the resources behind it.

But perhaps the biggest dynamic at play is that of change. A decade in power for the SNP at Holyrood pales in comparison with 40 years at the City Chambers.

Local politics, the personalities, agendas have become stale, unfairly given the goings on at some other authorities, Glasgow still lingers under a perception that something does not smell quite right – as tedious a term as governance takes on all sorts of connotations in Glasgow.

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The polls do not look good for Labour. It has ruled out a coalition with the Tories.

It is hard to see how it can otherwise cling to power.

The SNP, as either a minority or majority administration appears on the cusp of power. How then it relates to the governments of Edinburgh and London and whether it has the experience, vision and nous to run a city of 600,000, with enormous social challenges on a budget of £2billion looks likely to be the next chapter. for in the city’s political arena