The news that Wilko has gone into administration and a closing date of this Wednesday has been set for bids for the company is “extremely concerning” for local staff, according to South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth.

The homeware retailer, which has branches in Ayr, Castle Douglas and Hamilton, remains open for now but the administrator has so far been unable to find enough emergency investment to save its 400 shops and 12,500 workers across the UK.

Colin Smyth said: “This will be an important extremely concerning time for Wilko and my thoughts are with staff and their families, who will be deeply worried about what the future holds.

“The past few years have been awful for our high streets and if Wilko was to close, this is yet more terrible news.

“Our town centres have traditionally been the heartbeat of our communities, bringing people together to live, work, shop and socialise.

“However, they are under pressure and under threat, with big chains pulling out and local shops being undercut by online shopping, leaving too many high streets dominated by ‘to let’ signs.

“We can only hope a buyer is found by the closing day and jobs locally are saved but in the longer term we need action from the Scottish Government in order to save our high streets from further closures.”