LABOUR'S Holyrood constituencies are expected to fall like dominoes to the SNP on May 5.

A seat predominantly in Yes-voting North Lanarkshire, with a wafer-thin majority of 713, would on paper be seen as a certain to make the now familiar transition from red to nationalist yellow.

Richard Lyle, an SNP veteran and list MSP since 2011, is favourite to take Uddingston and Bellshill from Labour's Michael McMahon. While McMahon has been a constituency representative in the area since 1999 (his seat was formerly Hamilton North and Bellshill before a significant boundary change) he only narrowly held off Lyle five years ago.

Their rerun takes place after an independence referendum and a further surge in SNP support that saw Lyle's party take 56 of the 59 seats at last year's general election.

But McMahon, whose political career is at stake having been selected ninth on Labour's regional list, insists he is in with a chance.

He points to a series of local factors that are giving him hope. Lyle is seen as a major player in the 'Monklands McMafia', as an internal SNP faction has been dubbed, and blamed for a spate of infighting that became so bad that party headquarters stepped in to suspend the neighbouring Coatbridge and Chryston constituency association.

The civil war came to a head after a staff member of Lyle's accused a councillor of racism, sparking her suspension and counter-claims that she had been victim of a smear campaign.

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Some SNP members say they will refuse to campaign for Lyle let alone vote for him, and, according to McMahon, the turmoil within the SNP locally has resulted in a weak ground campaign.

Members close to Lyle, meanwhile, point to a long record of service to the SNP and claim he is fighting off attempts at infiltration from Solidarity.

While the Labour candidate says some voters are put off by the high-profile infighting, he claims to be attracting far more support on the back of a hugely controversial planning saga.

An application to transform the Mossend railhead into a national freight super-hub, which would mean the destruction of 60 acres of greenbelt land north of Bellshill, was rejected unanimously by North Lanarkshire council. But an appeal to the Scottish Government was overturned by SNP planning minister Alex Neil, a move backed by Lyle.

"Richard Lyle supported Alex Neil's decision and that issue is now playing out locally," McMahon said. "I'm on the side of the local community and people know that I'll continue to stand up against it."

But as disputed as the planning decision is, will it be enough to convince pro-independence voters to back Labour?

McMahon insists that independence is not as popular as it might appear. Although around two-thirds of the constituency is in North Lanarkshire, he says the narrow Yes was delivered as a result of voters in towns like Cumbernauld and Coatbridge which fall outwith the seat boundaries. Around a third is part of South Lanarkshire, which voted to remain in the UK.

He says, in a clear two-horse race, he is well placed to pick up tactical votes from the 2,500 who backed the Tories and LibDems in 2011.

"I'm realistic enough to know that this is the fiercest battle I've ever been involved in," McMahon adds. "But I have a record I can put to people and I'm convinced people will give the Labour Party a fair hearing before they cast their votes."

- The Herald approached to SNP in an attempt to speak to Mr Lyle about the election but did not receive a response

2011 results

Michael McMahon, Labour, 11,531

Richard Lyle, SNP, 10,817

Mark Brown, Conservative, 2,117

Fraser Macgregor, Liberal Democrat, 530

2015 candidates

Kaitey Blair, Liberal Democrat

Richard Lyle, SNP

Michael McMahon, Labour

Andy Morrison, Conservative