By John Lamont MP
It's a very difficult time for local authorities up and down Scotland at the moment.
Councils from the Scottish Borders to the Shetland Islands are facing severe financial issues, through no fault of their own.
They have been placed under huge pressure by a brutal combination of consistently low budgets from the SNP government at Holyrood over the last 18 years and the introduction of higher National Insurance rates by the Labour government at Westminster in the most recent UK budget.
The former has left councils without the resources they need and the latter has compounded the issue by driving up the cost of employing staff.
As a consequence of the financial squeeze that councils find themselves in, many are having to consider previously unthinkable proposals.
However, despite the bleak situation they face, it still does not excuse poor decisions that involve shutting essential frontline services.
The recent choice by the local council to propose shutting several nurseries across the Scottish Borders is completely wrong.
These plans, which were voted through by some councillors from the SNP and my own party, are short-sighted.
They are opposed by local communities, especially the many parents who would be inconvenienced from the reduction in childcare availability.
Families have made their views clear and plain, and it is nothing short of a disgrace that the council is ignoring their views.
I believe the council needs to listen to local people and reconsider this decision. Plans to close nurseries should be dropped and alternative options considered instead.
We should all want rural services to be protected, not shut down. We should all be seeking to expand childcare accessibility, not limit it. We should be united in demanding better from the SNP and Labour governments, so Borders residents don't suffer from their mistakes.
But if some Borders councillors insist on going ahead with these proposals, I believe they have an obligation to face the scrutiny of a public meeting so they can hear exactly what local people think and explain their decision in full detail.
That public meeting should happen but, if it does not, then I would encourage everyone who disagrees with these plans to get in touch with the council and respond to the consultation on the proposals.
It's vital that the communities affected make their views clear so that we can hopefully ensure these nurseries remain open for the families that need them.
