CONSERVATIVE MSP John Lamont represents residents of Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire in the Scottish Parliament. Here, he writes exclusively for readers of the Border Telegraph...

INDEPENDENCE DEBATE: The independence debate had a defining moment last week when the Chancellor, George Osborne, ruled out any prospect of an independent Scotland sharing the pound.

Up until now, the SNP have asserted that should we separate from the rest of the UK, Scotland would get to keep the pound as part of a currency union.

However, this has now been blown out of the water as politicians from the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems ruled out allowing a currency union as it would not be in the rest of the UK’s interests.

This was in addition to a letter from the impartial Permanent Secretary to the Treasury advising the Chancellor to reject the idea of sharing the pound. It means that there is now no way that an independent Scotland could use the pound unless it was to have no control over the financial levers of power.

Despite all the bluster from the SNP, the message is now a clear one: If Scotland walks away from the UK, it walks away from the pound.

POLICE CLOSURES: Police Scotland recently confirmed that they were to go ahead with their proposal to close the public counters at over a third of the police stations in the Borders. Despite hearing from several experts and organisations from across Scotland who were against their recommendations, Police Scotland have decided to press on ahead regardless.

It just goes to show that as suspected, the consultation exercise was merely Police Scotland going through the motions. What makes the announcement even more galling is that most of the reasoning behind the closures was based on out of date or flawed data.

Borders residents are right to expect better than this from their police force, but instead they are now going to be made to suffer as they will lose the chance to interact with their local policemen and women. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a retrograde step that will do nothing to improve the public’s confidence in the safety of our streets.

GARDEN WASTE: I recently raised concerns with the SNP Government in Holyrood about the scrapping of garden waste collections in the Borders.

I know that the garden waste collections were extremely popular in some parts of the Borders, and that a lot of households are upset that they have been taken away. While I understand that the council needs to save money, in this instance it has come at the cost of a much needed service.

The SNP have been setting grand targets for household recycling, yet they have been offering very little help to Scottish Borders Council to make this a reality. It makes a mockery of the SNP’s policy on waste targets, and as things stand we have no chance of meeting them.

SURGERIES: I am next hosting surgeries in Selkirk on Wednesday, March 12, when I will be at the Victoria Hall in Selkirk at 9am. No appointment is necessary so please feel free to come along if you have a problem which you think that I might be able to help with.

Alternatively, please call my constituency office on 01450 375 948 and I will do my best to assist. For tours of the Scottish Parliament, please contact my Parliamentary office on 0131 348 6533.

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