This Government wants Scotland to be the engine room of UK growth and lead the national effort to raise living standards, improve public services and tackle the unacceptable levels of poverty that continue to scar our communities.
To achieve that goal, Edinburgh and south-east Scotland, including East Lothian, must play a central part.
At the meeting, we discussed how, as Scotland’s largest city economy and fastest-growing region, it has an unrivalled potential to deliver further prosperity and opportunity to local people and the rest of Scotland, helping the whole of the UK to flourish.
We know that East Lothian has already been punching well above its weight in terms of its contribution to economic development and growth over recent years.
I will continue to argue for the county to receive a fairer share of public funding to enable it to maintain and enhance that contribution, as well as supporting excellent services for local people, in the years ahead.
Thursday, May 8, is VE Day, marking 80 years since the end of the war in Europe.
To commemorate this significant anniversary, events are being held around the country, including a VE Day concert, military procession and flypast, nationwide street parties, and services at the National Memorial Arboretum and Westminster Abbey.
These celebrations will be an opportunity for generations to come together to remember the fallen and the shared values and freedoms that the Second World War generation fought so hard to protect, as well as to share and hear local stories of wartime.
For more information, ideas, and resources on local and national events marking VE and VJ Day, visit ve-vjday80.gov.uk