BORDERS MPs have registered their support at Westminster for the Borderlands to become the UK City of Culture 2025.

The region – which covers the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Carlisle City, Cumbria, and Northumberland – is among 20 applicants bidding for the prize.

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale representative David Mundell, of the Conservatives, said the Borderlands has a “strong case” in the competition.

He said: “Whilst the Borderlands area is largely rural, we have a combined population matching that of a substantial city and many shared characteristics and needs, economic and cultural, on both sides of the border. It has a strong case for being considered for such status.”

Mr Mundell has joined Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk MP John Lamont, also of the Conservatives, in backing the bid.

In a joint-formal letter, the MPs said it would be "a real boon for our areas to be part of the UK City of Culture 2025".

The support for the bid comes in the same week that SNP councillors in Dumfries and Galloway said they did not back the proposals amid concerns over the size of the area.

The councillors would have reportedly backed a south of Scotland bid.

Mr Mundell told the BBC that the stance was “appalling”.