Published: Monday, 11th January, 2010 5:55pm

Borders public to quiz Lib-Dem leader

LIBERAL Democrat leader Nick Clegg will answer questions about the state of politics and the country during a visit to the Borders this week.

Local MP Michael Moore has invited his party colleague to the region to discuss the big challenges facing the country.

It is the latest in a series of public meetings he has held across the country ahead of the Westminster elections later this year. However, it is his first in the south of Scotland.

The event takes place at the Tower Mill in Hawick on Friday (January 15) at 6.30pm. The town has been left reeling by a number of job losses in the textile industry over the past year.

Mr Moore said: "The economic downturn has hit Hawick and the Borders as badly as anywhere in the UK, with a series of redundancies across our local manufacturing industries in 2009 and many families struggling to make ends meet.

"The Liberal Democrats are putting fairness at the heart of our election campaign. We want to see fairer taxes, particularly for the low paid, and help for pensioners. We want to re-build our economy in a sustainable way and deliver the radical political reform that everyone craves.

"This public meeting will give Hawick and other Borders residents the opportunity to learn more about how the Liberal Democrats seek to get our local economy back on the right track."