Fashion

Accessories Edit, plus Mum’s the Word column

Members of the Unite trade union yesterday held protests against plans to shut more than 60 RBS branches in Scotland.

The demonstrations came on the day that the bank announced it has made its first annual profit for a decade.

In December, RBS said it would shut a total of 62 branches north of the Border, with the loss of about 158 jobs.

Earlier this month, ten of those closure-threatened branches were given a stay of execution when the bank said they would remain open until at least the end of the year.

Unite said its members were staging a “Day of Action” against the closures, with protests in several locations including Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Selkirk and Wick. The union said the RBS annual report showed the bank was a “cash-rich institution”.

Unite’s deputy Scotland secretary Mary Alexander said the announcement that RBS had made a profit last year was “even more reason” to stop the branch closures.

She said: “We think there is no justification for RBS to take the axe to communities across Scotland. We are not challenging the fact people are moving to digital banking, but there are still a huge numbers who like to go to the bank. We’d like the bank to show us the figures they have for footfall.”