DEREK Mackay’s potential successor as the SNP MSP for Renfrewshire North and West will be selected following an internal party contest.

Award-winning councillor and mental health nurse Michelle Campbell will today officially launch her campaign to succeed the former minister, who was suspended from the SNP in February for sending inappropriate texts to a boy of 16.

Earlier this week Natalie Don, a former Mackay staffer, decided to put herself forward for the seat.

The National reported in June that Campbell, who works for Paisley and Renfrewshire North MP Gavin Newlands, was being lined up as the contender, though the 36-year-old at the point did not confirm she would definitely stand.

Should she win the internal selection contest and get elected as an MSP, she would be the first woman from a BAME background into Holyrood.

“I am pleased to announce my intention to ask the SNP membership of Renfrewshire North and West constituency to select me as their MSP candidate next year,” Campbell told the National yesterday as she welcomed the contest with Don.

“Now more than ever, the SNP offers our constituency and our country the best opportunity for us to have a more certain and progressive future. As a member of the Social Justice and Fairness Commission, I have been passionate and driven towards ensuring that national policy decisions deliver for our local communities in this work as we progress towards an independent Scotland.”

She added: “Fundamentally, only independence can drive the power for change that our country needs if we want to build a new, fairer Scotland. As your candidate I will lead from the front in taking our positive message to the people and making sure we secure a Yes vote in a future referendum.

“I ask all the SNP members across the constituency to stand with me as their candidate to offer Renfrewshire North and West the strength of representation that will deliver for us all.”

Campbell was elected onto Renfrewshire Council in 2017 and in 2019 won the councillor of the year at the SNP’s annual St Andrew’s Day dinner. Mackay had been regarded as a frontrunner to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader. After the texting scandal, there was some nervousness in the SNP about whether the party would regain his seat.