John Lamont is aiming for an election hat-trick in the constituency after victories in 2017 and 2019.
But after his margin of victory was more than halved five years ago he accepts that the contest this time around is too close to call and he’s on the campaign trail trying to persuade undecided voters.
Campaigning in sunshine at Morebattle over the weekend, Mr Lamont said: “I’ve got my sun cream on. It’s a very different to the last General Election campaign which was in December, in the dark, which was challenging for all sorts of reasons, one of which was the shortage of daylight hours.
“It’s still very tight between me and the SNP, last time I got 48 per cent of the vote, SNP got 40, the Lib Dems and Labour were both around five per cent. We’ve also got a lot of pro-UK tactical voting, people who don’t want another independence vote and want to unite around me as the strongest pro-UK candidate.
“Election campaigns throw up all sorts of challenges but I think the voters are able to focus on the issues at hand and do you want your politicians in Scotland to focus on the NHS, schools, the transport system or do you want to talk about independence, you have the SNP saying independence is a big issue for their manifesto.
“My majority in 2019 went down from 11,000 to just over 5,000, as was well recorded Boris Johnson was not particularly popular in Scotland and voters we lost in 2019 are now voting for me again because they rate Rishi Sunak more highly than they perhaps did for Boris Johnson, I’m picking up support on that front but as ever it’s very tight here in the Borders.”
One of the issues Mr Lamont is focussing on is the uncertainty over the future of community hospitals in Peebles, Kelso, Duns and Hawick
He said: “The health board has not been able to give guarantees that they will be kept open at the end of that review, so that’s causing a lot of concern while at the same time NHS waiting times are getting longer and people are not getting access to GPs.”
Nationally, Mr Lamont said there was still a “lot at stake”, despite polls suggesting a large Labour majority.
He added: “There’s a lot of undecided voters, I get that on the doorstep. My first campaign ever was as a young student in 1997 and I remember the sense of monentum Tony Blair had in that campaign and it does not feel that Starmer has that level of momentum or enthusiasm compared to what Blair had in ’97. I still think there is a lot at stake.”
The candidates for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk are: John Lamont (Conservatives), David Wilson (SNP), Ray Georgeson (Liberal Democrats); Caitlin Stott (Labour), Neil Mackinnon (Greens), Carolyn Grant (Reform), Ellie Merton (Independent); Hamish Goldie-Scot (Scottish Family Party).