THE Braw Lads’ Gathering could be cancelled next year - if Scotland votes for independence.

James Pringle, Laird of Torwoodlee, made the statement while welcoming the Braw Lad and Lass, Gavin Young and Alice Mackay, to his home during a traditional ceremony to celebrate the history of the town on Wednesday night last week.

He used his annual address to urge voters to keep the union between Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Laird said: “Braw Lads’ is not normally a time for politicking but I think it too important a subject to miss the opportunity when I’m on my hind legs anyway to add my thoughts to the debate.

“Indeed on Braw Lads’ Day, we commemorate the marriage of the Thistle and the Rose in 1503 which, almost inevitably, led to the marriage of the Crowns in 1603 and the Union of the Parliaments in 1707 – a union which has served us in Scotland very well for 300 years.

“Even then it was recognised that we’d be Better Together and it’s a shame that we have to debate the issue all over again before, hopefully, seeing the sense in staying married.

“I’m going to vote No so that we can keep the benefits that we have, rather than risk losing everything we’ve built together over the last 300 years. Only by voting No and remaining together with the United Kingdom can we ensure that we can afford to retain our Braw Lads’ week, that we can afford to look after our disadvantaged folk, that we can afford to invest in our future by educating and helping all of our young people so that they can live and work in our Borders, people perhaps like Gavin and Alice.

“If we vote to separate and the subsequent negotiations leave us with no control over our currency, no place in Europe, perhaps rather few oil revenues but plenty of the national debt, plenty of the costs of reinventing all the political, administrative and diplomatic institutions and so on, what then? There will be no way back and we’ll start our divorced lives with a massive hole in the national finances and a completely different standard of living to that we enjoy as a part of the United Kingdom.”