Every week Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here is this week’s edition.

Olympic Torch in the Borders

 With the London Olympics just around the corner, it was great to be part of the crowd welcoming the Torch to the Borders last week. It received a very warm reception and it was fantastic to see so many people getting behind the event. The Torch’s eight day journey through Scotland has given us an opportunity to showcase everything Scotland has to offer and I would like to thank everyone in the Borders who got behind the relay, particularly the torchbearers who carried out their duties magnificently.

 It has been brilliant to see Borderers carrying the flame at various points of the relay such as Iain MacDonald from Duns who carried the flame through Berwick, Phil Craze from Chirnside and Terry Nicholls from Burnmouth who both carried it through Milton Bridge and Callum Airlie of Westruther who carried the flame through Gordon. They did extremely well to be selected to carry the flame and they certainly did the Borders proud.

 A high point of the day was certainly the showpiece event at the 3G football ground in Netherdale. Nearly 2000 local school children attended the event which included sports and a lot of flag waving! The climax of the afternoon was however the arrival of the torch, carried by Chris Paterson, of Gala, Scotland’s most capped rugby player. Councillor Graham Garvie also announced in his speech that Borderer Kate Murray had been selected that day to compete in her second Paralympics in August as part of the GB archery team. It was certainly a very proud moment for all Borderers and I was extremely pleased to be part of the celebrations as Borders MP.

Promoting Borders businesses

 Every year the Queen’s birthday is officially celebrated by the ceremony of Trooping the Colour on a Saturday in June. As Secretary of State for Scotland it was a great privilege to hold a reception last Saturday on the day of the event and it was good to use it as an opportunity to promote Borders business. During the reception guests at the Scotland Office were able to enjoy Selkirk Bannocks from Cameron’s in Selkirk, alongside many other foods from across Scotland. They went down very well and it was great to be able to showcase this popular Borders brand.

 As MP for the Borders, I am heavily involved in promoting and supporting our local businesses and in my role as Secretary of State for Scotland I also have the opportunity to promote Borders businesses here in the UK and further afield. For example, last November, I led Scotland’s biggest trade mission of Scottish business to Brazil and as part of this trip I was able to promote Borders textiles during the meetings I had with Brazilian Ministers. Here in the Borders we have so many successful and innovative businesses which sell their products across the UK and all over the world and I am committed to working with them to boost jobs and growth in the area.

* Michael Moore was the Liberal Democrat MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk from 1997-2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2010-2013.