I have made my opposition clear to any reunification of the Tayside local authorities - people in Perth and Kinross do not want to be governed from Dundee.
The First Minister’s revealed to the Courier this week that changing council boundaries was “possible” amid the government’s attempts to find savings to plug the country’s £5bn black hole.
Reunifying the Tayside Local Authority is an attempt to distract from the dire state of local authority funding and shows that the government is now in panic mode to repair the public finances, which they have so poorly managed over the past 20 years.
People in Perth and Kinross do not want to be administered from Dundee and the move to unify would doubtless lead to rural areas being sidelined further still, with the interests of the city of Dundee taking precedent.
For years the Scottish Conservatives have been calling for more investment in local authorities, and instead the government has sunk money into vanity projects and the unsustainable welfare bill.
Such a restructuring would be a mammoth task and one that, if anything, would likely come at a higher cost to the taxpayer.
It should be noted that such a move could interfere with the council elections next year too.
