LOCAL POLICING
Recent figures revealed that Scottish Borders Council provided Police Scotland with more than £160,000, which hired the equivalent of four extra officers for our area.
However, under the new single police force there is now no guarantee that the money being spent by the council will lead to better policing in the Borders.
Edinburgh Council has already withdrawn millions in funding.
And it will not be long before others join them.
Without this guarantee it will undoubtedly lead to questions over whether we should continue to provide funding.
We need the best police force possible for the region, but this money could be spent in other areas.
Police Scotland need to start providing assurances that the money we are giving them will go towards fighting crime in our region.
If not, we risk seeing frontline policing taking a huge hit.
FISHING AND AGRICULTURE
I was pleased to visit Eyemouth last week in order to talk to local farmers and fishermen about the challenges they are currently facing.
I was joined by the Scottish Conservative candidate for the upcoming Euro elections, Ian Duncan, who used to work in the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.
Both our fishing industry and our farms have been hit hard by EU regulations that are only making it harder for them to do their job. I know that many in the industry want to see those in Brussels take their views into consideration. It was great to hear from some of them at first-hand about what they would like to see changed, and I am sure that if elected Ian Duncan could provide the strong voice we need to fight for the best deal for our agricultural and fishing industry.
AMBULANCE SERVICE
New figures showed that 19 addresses have been flagged in the Borders by the Scottish Ambulance Service due to previous incidents of violence or threats being made.
The addresses are flagged to warn ambulance crews that they might face a hostile reception should they attend a medical emergency at that address.
Although the number recorded in the Borders is much lower than in other parts of the country, it is abhorrent to think that anyone would threaten or be violent towards a member of our emergency service staff.
Ambulance crews help to save thousands of lives each and every year, and for someone to show them anything but their upmost respect is totally unacceptable.