SBCC Hustings Event

Borders business people will come together in Kelso on Tuesday to grill the election candidates in a hustings focused on local issues.

The hustings event has been organised by the Scottish Borders Chamber of Commerce (SBCC) in order to shine the spotlight on the key issues for small and large firms across the Borders region.

“We believe it’s very important that the political parties are held accountable by the business community,” said Trevor Jackson, SBCC Chair, “and they can put out their manifestos and manifesto pledges. It’s also important that the business community has a chance to question them and put their issues to them, and that the things that are important to our business community are then uppermost in the candidates’ minds.

“I think there has been a general feeling that other issues have dominated the election build-up and business has dropped down the agenda from all sides. There are the other things that they don’t seem keen to talk about, elements like Brexit and labour availability, and skills, and how that is affecting our area. We have various challenges in the Borders, such as connectivity, physical as well as digital, and governments have had a long time to sort these things out, and it’s not there yet. So we’re looking forward to welcoming as many Borders business people as possible to Kelso on Tuesday night, and having a good discussion and debate, that we hope will ensure we keep Borders’ views at the heart of candidates’ minds whoever wins the vote and becomes our representative at Westminster.”