Shoppers leafleted as protest over bank closure plan continues
Gavin Newlands MP has joined activists for a day of action protesting against plans by the Royal Bank of Scotland to close branches.
On Saturday SNP members, along with other community activists, took to Renfrew town centre to hand out leaflets and encourage shoppers to sign a parliamentary petition which urges RBS to reverse their decision to close the Renfrew branch.
RBS announced in December the Canal Street branch was one of 60 across Scotland earmarked for closure.
Following the banking crisis in 2008, the taxpayer bailed out RBS and the UK Government is the current major shareholder.
Gavin Newlands, SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said: “Over the past couple of months, I have been campaigning with the local community to try and save the popular and recently refurbished RBS branch in Renfrew. This has included encouraging local people and businesses to sign and support my parliamentary petition, which I will be presenting soon, calling on RBS to reverse their nonsensical decision to close this busy branch.
“I led a day of action in Renfrew town centre, speaking to local shoppers and securing more support for our campaign.
“The message from Saturday’s day of action was loud and clear – RBS is owned by the taxpayer, we bailed them out and they shouldn’t be attempting to bail out of Renfrew.
“If RBS continues to go down this road, the Tory UK Government – as the major shareholder – should finally intervene and stop this closure. Local people will not forget if RBS, in partnership with the Tories, allows the doors of the Renfrew branch to close for good.”
A spokesperson for RBS said: “Since 2012 the number of customers using our branches in Scotland has fallen by 44 per cent.
“We are communicating with our customers affected by the closure and contacting vulnerable customers and branch users.
“We have extended the time between announcing our decision and the branch closure to six months; this has been done so that we can ensure our customers have enough time to consider the right banking options for them and to give us time to support them oneto-one during the transition.”