Moore Secures Meeting With Scottish Secretary On Borders Jobs Summit

12.00.00am GMT Fri 12th Feb 2010

Local MP Michael Moore will be pressing the case for a Borders jobs summit after securing a meeting with the Secretary of State for Scotland to discuss the recent increase in redundancies across the south of Scotland.

Mr Moore wrote to Jim Murphy MP requesting an urgent meeting after it emerged last month that an additional 175 manufacturing jobs were at risk in the Borders as a result of a local textile firm going into administration.

The Scotland Office has hosted jobs summits in a number of areas of the country that have been hit by the recession, most recently in Glasgow. The summits brought together councils, education providers, business organisations and national agencies to discuss how to best support those that had lost their jobs as a consequence of the economic downturn.

In December, Mr Moore presented a petition to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street which called for additional resources to be made available to protect jobs and support skills training schemes in the Borders.

Commenting, Mr Moore said:

'Although the economy made a tentative return to growth at the end of 2009, the additional redundancies that we have seen recently in our local manufacturing sector indicate just how challenging a year 2010 is likely to be for many firms in the Borders. I will ensure that the Minister recognises the urgency of this situation during our meeting.

'A Borders employment summit would be instrumental in ensuring that Government agencies, business and education groups are working together to the same end - helping as many people as possible that lost their jobs as a result of the recession to get back to work.'