THE Glasgow Anniesland SNP campaign for the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections kicked off on October 26 last year, and was intense in terms of canvassing and leafleting, with a team that had worked the independence referendum and then the 2015 Westminster campaign.

Therefore it seemed to me and others a just reward that the constituency majority rose from a magnificent seven to a very substantial 6,153.

The fact that this passed without much surprise says a great deal about people’s expectation levels of electoral success for the SNP.

It should be remembered that this took place in an area which had been a Labour Party shibboleth, being the former constituency of the late Donald Dewar.

Indeed, that the SNP took all nine of the Glasgow constituency seats in the elections is testament to the replacement of Labour in its former heartland by its long-term rivals for the support and loyalty of the city’s electorate.

If you add to this that the SNP gained over one million votes on the constituency vote across Scotland and won 59 of the 73 constituency seats — which is a first in the Scottish Parliament’s electoral history — then you can picture the sea change which has taken place in our country’s political make-up.

That there was a fall in the number of seats overall from the 2011 poll for the SNP, so that we now have a minority government rather than a majority one, was due to the additional member system voting format and not due to a fall in support.

Anyway, enough of the sixth-form exam prep approach to reportage. The fact is that the SNP has been in government for nine years now and is still popular enough among Scotland’s electorate to increase its popular share of the vote.

That in itself speaks volumes, not only for the popularity of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her team but also for the appeal of the party’s position on the constitution.

Whereas the growing failure of the unionist parties’ appeal to maintain the historic link with the Westminster establishment is shown by their disarray over who is the most loyal servant of the British state, Labour or the Conservatives.

The increased number of Tory MSPs — overtaking Labour by 31 seats to 24 and pushing it into third place at Holyrood — will bring the alternative of Scottish independence versus Westminster impotence into sharp focus in this parliament.

Will Labour stand idly by or take a stand against the right-wing doctrine that has overtaken it in the polls by working with the SNP to promote a progressive politics in Scotland? You can be sure that the SNP won’t be found wanting.

• Bill Kidd is SNP MSP for Glasgow Anniesland.