The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Corbyn slams RBS over ‘shocking’ bank closures
Leader tells Caird Hall conference of his concerns over single market
Jeremy Corbyn has attacked the “shocking” wave of bank closures in Scotland, saying it is fuelling the “destruction” of communities.
Supporting The Courier’s campaign to save doomed branches, the Labour leader said it is unfair his local RBS bank in London remains open when there are sweeping closures north of the border.
In his keynote speech to Scottish Labour’s conference in the Caird Hall, Dundee earlier, he said staying in the single market as it is would be incompatible with his socialist plan to rebuild the British economy.
His criticism of the single market came as the party leadership moved to block a vote on the issue amid rising tensions over the party’s Brexit stance.
In an interview with The Courier, Mr Corbyn supported its Save Our Banks campaign, which demands a U-turn on the closure of at least 50 RBS branches in Scotland, including eight in Courier Country.
Mr Corbyn said: “I actually have an account with RBS and the branch I use at home is not closing in London, they are not closing there. But they are closing branches in Scotland.
“I think it’s quite shocking what they are doing.
“It’s very damaging to lose a bank because when you are a small community and you lose your post office, bank and the range of shops, you end up with a supermarket on a bypass, the town hollowed out. Closing branches is part of the destruction of community life in the UK.”
RBS, 72% owned by the taxpayer, says there are “more ways than ever” to bank with them, including through mobile vans, post offices and online. Theresa May has refused to intervene, saying it is a commercial decision.
Earlier, the UK Labour leader told the Dundee conference that current rules on the single market are incompatible with his plans to overhaul British capitalism.
He said it would be “wrong to sign up to a single market deal without agreement that our final relationship with the EU would be fully compatible with our radical plans to change Britain’s economy”.
“We are determined to negotiate a deal that gives us full tariff-free access to the single market,” he added.
“But if we are genuinely going to have a jobs-first Brexit, that deal must be compatible with our plans to bring the railways and postal service into full ownership, transform energy markets and end the privatisation of our public services.”
Earlier, Scottish Labour’s ruling body was accused of stifling debate by deciding that motions calling for the party to join the single market were outof-date. That decision is likely to be approved by delegates, which would mean the motions would not be debated.
Members of the European single market, which include countries outside as well as inside the EU, are bound by four founding principles of free movement of people, goods, services and money.
Maurice Golden, for the Scottish Conservatives, said Labour’s splits on Brexit are “becoming deeper by the day”. He added: “What’s more, in the perfect environment for Labour members to have an open and honest debate about this, extreme-left bosses have silenced them.”
The Labour conference rolled in to Dundee yesterday in somewhat low-key fashion.
Despite the appearance of UK leader Jeremy Corbyn, the sense of excitement could hardly be said to have been tangible.
He may have promised that his party is a “government in waiting” but much of the latest evidence has suggested otherwise.
Labour has not been lacking in opportunities to grab the initiative in recent years.
The Scottish independence campaign and the vote to leave the EU provided perfect platforms for the party to grab control and send out a strong – and popular – message.
Theresa May might have promised a “strong and stable” government, but at times it has been anything but.
If only Labour had itself boasted rather more fortitude and togetherness, it would surely have capitalised.
Likewise, the party lost ground in Scotland in astonishing fashion, allowing the Tories to sneak ahead – something that was previously unthinkable.
Quite apart from anything else, then, there is much ground for Labour to regain, both north and south of the border.
Whether or not this weekend’s Dundee conference comes to be regarded as a crucial turning point remains to be seen.