A FIFE MSP has written to Fife Council leader David Ross over budget cuts that she described as a "serious threat" to shopmobility services in Dunfermline.

Labour's Jayne Baxter said that proposals to stop annual funding of £141,000 from 2017 would be "disproportionally unfair on people with disabilities" and would have a "negative economic impact on the towns concerned".

Fife Shopmobility helps people with reduced mobility to be able to shop in Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes town centres through the loan of mobility scooters and help from a companion shopper where needed.

More than 20,000 loans of equipment are made each year to people coming into the three towns but Ms Baxter, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said that Fife Shopmobility's future would be under threat if its funding was stopped.

She said: "The proposal to stop the annual funding of £141,000 from 2017 is included in a document called 'Additional Savings Proposals' within Fife Council's draft budget.

"I must stress that I understand the enormous and very worrying impact that John Swinney's budget cuts are having on Fife Council services and I do not envy the councillors and managers having to make such tough decisions. However, I believe the impact of removing this support would be disproportionally unfair on people with disabilities and have a negative impact on the towns concerned.

"The closure of this service would mean 20,000 visits to our town centres would be made so much more difficult, if not impossible, without the equipment loan and shopping companion services provided by the organisation. The impact on social isolation and wellbeing cannot be calculated.

"I have written to the leader of the council to ask for sight of the equality impact assessment which accompanies this proposal, and information on what consultation has taken place to date. I have stressed the negative impact of any closure on disabled people and on the local economies of Fife's town centres."