ANALYSIS

GARETH MCPHERSON POLITICAL REPORTER

If there was any chance of local issues taking centre stage in the council elections, that has surely now evaporated.

The May 4 ballot was already being seen as a proxy vote for the ongoing constitutional wrangling in Scotland.

To varying degrees, Holyrood parties have revolved their campaigns around independence to secure a mandate for or against secession.

Theresa May’s bombshell call for another general election condemns the local elections into even deeper obscurity.

With just 50 days until the UK goes to the polls, the Westminster fight will trump the local under-card, which is being held a month earlier.

The Prime Minister is clear the June 8 election is about giving her government a stronger mandate to pursue their brand of Brexit in the face of attempts to thwart it by their Commons opponents. It also holds the tantalising prospect for the Tories of inflicting a brutal defeat on Labour.

Nicola Sturgeon will make this about independence, overtly as well as through Tory bashing. She is relishing another battle with the Conservatives at a time when she was at risk of running out of steam in her push for another independence referendum.

It means both governments’ records on grassroots performance, as well as those of councils, will be sidelined. And councils will be populated by candidates picked for constitutional reasons rather than what is best for our local services.

For Scottish Labour, squeezed by more powerful rhetoric on the constitution by opponents, that does not bode well for its chances in battlegrounds like Fife.