Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Matheson refuses to rule out north-east police division merger

Michael Matheson
Michael Matheson

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson has refused to get embroiled in a row over plans to merge three north-east police divisions.

He was asked to reject a proposal to subsume Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray into one entity yesterday but sidestepped the question.

The issue was raised at Holyrood by north-east Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald who is worried that the oil capital of Europe could be left without a dedicated police division or any responsible senior police officer of the rank of chief superintendent or above.

Mr Matheson said: “Police Scotland has undertaken an extensive consultation on the issue.

“I discussed the issue this week with the chief constable, who assured me that he will consider the views that have been submitted to Police Scotland as part of the consultation process.

“Likewise, I would expect the Scottish Police Authority to scrutinise fully the proposals that Police Scotland takes forward and to consider how to respond to the consultation results.”

Speaking after the exchange, Mr Macdonald said: “I gave Michael Matheson the chance today to stand up for the people of Aberdeen and reject these proposals but he chose to remain silent.

“SNP ministers have closed prisons, courts and police stations in the north-east since 2007 and Aberdeen’s fire and police control rooms are next in line for closure.

“It is disappointing that Michael Matheson seems to be following the same approach as his predecessor, Kenny MacAskill.

“It seems communities will get no help from the SNP when it comes to preventing more public sector closures in the north-east.”