Capitalising on a strong showing for independence and tapping into grassroots campaigns and discontent could deliver Glasgow to the SNP, the party's new leader on the council has claimed.

Speaking publicly for the first time since her election last week, Allison Hunter also believes Glasgow will become a national battleground in the run-up to the 2012 local government elections.

But while she said she is confident of a raft of able new councillors swelling the SNP ranks in the city next year, the 60-something former teacher said she was “not so arrogant” to believe she would be in the post long term.

Last month’s landslide victory in the Parliamentary elections for the SNP and its triumph over Labour in many west of Scotland heartlands have fuelled speculation the Nationalists could topple the Labour administration in Glasgow.

Many believe the intervention of Alex Salmond in the issue of an east end care centre and the flexing of financial muscles regarding the Commonwealth Games is the clearest indication the SNP is already on an election footing.

The prize, as well as the political scalp, would be the power to influence the engine room of the Scottish economy in the run-up to an independence referendum.

The sense of anticipation within her own party’s ranks and jitters within Glasgow Labour that the unthinkable could be less than 11 months away arguably puts Mrs Hunter in a position of importance few within SNP local government ranks have ever experienced.

But she believes the terrain is ripe for another major SNP victory in the west of Scotland.

Mrs Hunter said: “It’s too early to speak about manifesto or policy commitments but there is a crying need for the people of Glasgow to be reconnected with the city council.

“A huge gulf has grown between the ordinary people and the authority, with citizens always feeling the council does not listen.”

She said the SNP group had the capacity to win but refused to be drawn on whether it would take the council. She also added that in the event of no party winning an overall majority in the council she would be receptive to coalition talks with other political groups

One issue for the SNP on the doorsteps will be that the current Labour leader, Gordon Matheson, was the head of education during the controversial school closures programme two years ago.

She added: “School closures is the obvious thing. There was a consultation, the people had their say and then the council did what it wanted.”

Mrs Hunter and her party will also be buoyed by the poll in The Herald last week which showed a stronger support for independence than anywhere else in Scotland.

But until the change of the voting system in 2007 the SNP was struggling to get more than three councillors elected in Glasgow out of a total of 79, outnumbered even by the LibDems.

“The SNP was founded in Glasgow. We’ve always had a strong presence in the city which maybe wasn’t reflected in the first-past-the-post system.

“Glasgow will be a national battleground but we’ll get no more than our fair share of visits and it won’t be a campaign where national politicians over-ride local councillors. Nicola Sturgeon’s new Cities Ministers brief is not a platform to get involved with Glasgow issues.”

She believes the lack of a city-wide profile for most of her group is compensated for in strong local presences, with councillors working their wards continually since being elected in 2007.

The cessation of council-generated news sheets, dismissed by some in the SNP as Labour propaganda, also puts councillors on a more even footing, Mrs Hunter believes.

But the SNP has not been without its problems. Last year there were internal tensions and two of its 22 elected councillors from 2007 have defected or gone independent.

Mrs Hunter said: “No political grouping is without its tensions. I’ve worked with groups this size before and while it’s a challenge, it’s certainly doable. My skills are organising and getting on with people. But we’ve party democracy and someone else may come forward in time. The group may change its mind about me. I’m not so arrogant to say I’ll be the leader post-2012.”

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