SCOTLAND may just be getting over the referendum, but in six months voters will be at the polling stations to elect MPs to Westminster.

The UK General Election takes place on May 7 and Glasgow is looking to be a key battleground between Labour and the SNP.

While Labour enjoys majorities of more than 10,000 in six of the seven city seats, the latest polls show the SNP on course to make gains with some Labour seats under threat for the first time in decades.

Between them the city's seven Labour MPs have 76 years of Westminster experience and majorities totalling 83,171.

William Bain, in North East enjoys the biggest majority, with almost 16,000 and Ann McKechin in Glasgow North has the slenderest at just under 4000, still fairly large.

It would normally put all seven as safe Labour seats but the 2011 Holyrood result and the fact that every Glasgow constituency voted Yes to independence has buoyed the SNP with real expectations that they could have some success.

The party is about to open its selection process for prospective candidates for the General Election and for the first time, many feel they may have a chance of winning.

Stewart McDonald is one of the first to declare he wants to be a candidate for the SNP.

The 28-year-old, who works for Cathcart SNP MSP James Dornan, is seeking the nomination in Glasgow South. Labour MP Tom Harris won the seat in 2001 and has held it at the two elections since with a comfortable majority topping 12,000, and he is a popular MP.

Mr McDonald said Labour can no longer count on unconditional support in the city.

He said: "The polls tell us that this is the worst time to be a Labour politician and the best time to be an SNP candidate. However they tell us something deeper.

"Glasgow has been loyal to Labour for decades, and people look around them and ask what they've had in return. People are increasingly looking to the SNP to deliver what's needed in their communities."

Mr McDonald, who grew up in Govan and lives in the constituency said: "The biggest issues in Glasgow South are jobs and housing. I will argue for maximum job-creating powers to come to Scot-land to provide oppor-tunities for young people and others seeking work."

The latest opinion polls have put the SNP miles ahead of Labour. The most striking showed 52% for the nationalists with Labour on 23%. That would mean five of the seven Glasgow seats changing hands.

Mr Bain said nearer the election a different picture will emerge.

He said: "There is volatility in the polls. A few months earlier it was a different pattern. Opinion can change quickly.

"When it comes to the election and people start to engage fully they will see the choice. It is either a Labour Government or five more years of the same with David Cameron.

"When people give us a second look they will see policies that will make a difference to people in Glasgow - taxing the wealthiest at 50% the liv-ing wage, jobs guarantees for young people."

The SNP are refusing to be carried away and few expect the result to be a disaster for Labour.

However in the 2007 Holyrood election Labour won seven of the eight Glasgow seats, with only Nicola Sturgeon victor-ious. At the following election, in 2011, the SNP took five, with Anniesland, Cathcart, Kelvin and Shettleston also falling.

stewart.paterson@ eveningtimes.co.uk