Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
RBS petition presented at Westminster
A petition calling for Airdrie’s branch of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to be kept open has been formally presented at Westminster.
Neil Gray MP delivered the 300- signature document in the parliamentary chamber, asking that the House of Commons intervene in the publicly-owned bank’s closure programme.
He told members: “Private customers and businesses who will be impacted by the closure wished to voice their displeasure. I hope that through this petition and others, the bank may see sense and call a halt to the closures.”
It states that “closure of the town’s RBS branch will have a detrimental effect on both the people of Airdrie and the town centre; the petitioners request that the House of Commons asks the RBS board to revisit the decision given that the bank is still 70 per cent publicly owned”.
The Graham Street branch is to close on May 24, after bank officials announced in December that it would be among 62 across Scotland earmarked for closure – saying that transactions at the branch had reduced by a third in the previous five years.
Mr Gray added that saving the branch “is a more distant hope when we see news of further closures, following last week’s announcement of the bank’s £1.2 billion first-quarter pre-tax profit.
“That could easily be used to maintain a better branch network. It’s time that the UK government used their shareholding on behalf of the taxpayer and acted.”
He told the Advertiser: “I’m stunned that RBS is continuing its programme of slashing branches while making obscene profits even before these cuts have taken place.
“I will continue to fight this for not only my constituents but for everyone across the UK who are being forced to change branches or, more desperately, change banks completely.”
Meanwhile, neighbouring constituency MP Hugh Gaffney joined members of the Scottish affairs committee in quizzing RBS chief executive Ross McEwan yesterday.
The session included examining the reasons for the branch closure decision and subsequent temporary reprieve for 10 of those branches, and “why this opportunity wasn’t afforded to all affected branches”.