THE independence vote and what happens next will be at the forefront of councillors' minds this week.

On Thursday all 79 of the city's elected representatives are due to meet in the splendour of the City Chambers for a meeting of the full council.

Among the routine business are motions from the leaders of the two largest groups on the council.

Labour group and council leader Gordon Matheson has lodged a 56-word motion congratulating everyone involved in the referendum on a hard fought, passionate but fair campaign and calls on them to work together in the best interests of the city and Scotland.

SNP group leader Susan Aitken has also made the referendum the focus of her attention and has submitted a motion which is around 1000 words long, making it possibly the longest ever submitted by a city councillor.

It calls for the maximum possible devolution of powers to Scotland and includes the text of a letter which she believes should be sent to Lord Smith.

The letter starts by pointing out Glasgow returned a majority vote in favour of independence - a fact which is certain to make members of the ruling Labour group squirm on their comfortable leather seats.

The last meeting of the full council was the week before the referendum vote, so the meeting this week will be the first chance the council has had to discuss what happens next.

It will be interesting to see if the dynamic between the two groups has changed as a result of the vote.

When the result of the referendum became clear, Labour celebrated because Scotland voted No, but was unhappy that Glasgow voted Yes. The SNP was miserable that Scotland voted No but celebrated because Scotland's biggest city voted Yes.

It is hard to see how the opposing sides will ever be able to agree on anything.

But it is to be hoped they will manage to put their differences aside when it comes to ensuring Glasgow gets the best possible deal it can.

Their fight must not be for their political masters in Holyrood or Westminster but for the people of the city who voted them into power in the first place.

However the next few months in the city's seat of power are likely to fraught.

Scotland may now be drawing breath after the referendum but the UK is hurtling towards a General Election.

Councillors like nothing more than an election as it gives them an excuse for continual point scoring and bitter jibes. It could be a long seven months.

However, all sides will hopefully agree with a motion from councillor Hanif Raja praising the warmth of the thousands of volunteers who helped make the Commonwealth Games the success it was.