Parliamentary Committees and Public Enquiries
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Committee launches consultation on fairer deal for Scottish Borderlands

The Scottish Affairs Committee launches a consultation on the Borderlands of Scotland, the area covered by Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders Councils 

The Committee feels this region has been consistently overlooked and thus inadequately served by successive governments.

The title of the inquiry - Our Borderlands - Our Future - is intended to parallel the exceptionally successful initiative taken by Scotland’s three Island councils, who between them have a smaller population than each of the South of Scotland’s three Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, but who have arguably received much more recognition and support.

Series of issues

The Committee’s initial research included scoping visits to the region, held in Galashiels, Peebles and Dumfries, which identified a series of issues, many replicating those experienced by areas of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland but also shared with the North of England.

These included higher levels of unemployment and underemployment, lower than average wages, higher transport costs, poorer infrastructure and lower levels of enterprise and economic development.

The Committee is asking for responses to a series of questions, and would like input from people living and working in the Borders region who are affected by or concerned about these issues.

Chair's comments

Chair of the Committee, Ian Davidson MP, said:

"Our initial visits to the Borderlands, with what we knew already, told us that people in the South of Scotland are not getting as good a deal as they should.

Centralisation into Edinburgh undermines the ability of local people to control their own lives and the lack of any development support similar to that provided in the north of Scotland limits social and economic regeneration opportunities.

We hope our enquiry, together with our report and the consensus that we would hope to build, will bring about a fairer deal for the Borderlands."

Channel website: http://www.parliament.uk/

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