Scottish Borders Council is looking to shed a ‘significant' number of jobs over the next four years, to avoid being merged with Edinburgh.

The council's leader, David Parker, told his local newspaper: ‘It's a case of transform or die. ‘If we fail to deliver our services efficiently, or have to cut services the public expects and deserves, then the Scottish Executive will have a good case for hooking us up to the city region of Edinburgh. ‘That, I believe, would be a tragedy.' However, the council has claimed it will not be making redundancies from its 4,000-strong workforce but will instead not replace some staff when they leave and contract out some work to try and reduce costs.