Today in an exclusive from the Courier the impact on Police Scotland’s “challenging” budget has been laid bare.

According to a whistleblower from Fife, moral amongst local officers is “dreadful” and the number of staff “decimated”.

Concerns have also been raised that the force came close to not being able to pay wages on time. This has been denied by the Scottish Police Authority, the Scottish Government and Police Scotland, although the latter did admit that managing their budgets was “challenging”.

Today’s exclusive coincides with recent reports that policing in the east of Scotland is struggling as resources have been deployed west since the creation of Police Scotland, with policing in the east and rural areas sometimes falling below the minimum staffing levels for safe policing.

These reports are a real concern and I will be looking to raise the issue further in Parliament in the weeks ahead.