Post Bank plan an echo of idyllic past

Hard to justify cost of Labour’s national scheme – but rural areas do need an access to cash machines

The Labour Party’s pledge to set up a new publiclyowned bank with the aim of providing every consumer with face-to-face service if it wins the next general election will hold, we are sure, a great deal of appeal for some voters.

We know that, particularly among older people, the scale and speed with which local banks have closed down in recent years has been a matter of great concern.

And so when shadow chancellor John Mcdonnell promises his party will use the existing post office network to create as many as 3,600 “Post Bank” branches, we can imagine the idea winning support.

But just because a political proposal might be appealing it isn’t, necessarily, the right thing to do.

It is undoubtedly true that banks, driven by the need to maximise profit, have been absolutely ruthless in their decisions to pull down the shutters on outlets across the country in recent years.

For some in more remote areas of Scotland, this has meant the enforced end of in-branch banking.

Frustrating though this may be, however, we are bound to make the point that the reason many branches have closed is that they were no longer viable. With this in mind, we’re not sure Labour’s proposal stands up to much

scrutiny. If a bank closed a branch because only a handful of people used it, how is the government going to encourage greater use of a “Post Bank” in the same area?

For Labour’s promise to be fulfilled, it appears that the government would have to subsidise branches in areas where demand is low. Some may question whether that would represent the prudent use of taxpayers’ money.

Current political debate takes much of its inspiration from the past. The pro-brexit right looks through rose-coloured spectacles to a simpler time before the nation was “corrupted” by immigration and European meddling, while the modern Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn is infused with, among other ingredients, the spirits of 1930s British anti-fascism and Soviet Union communism.

With its echoes of an idyllic past when everyone had a bank manager – publicly stern, privately kind – Labour’s proposal seems tailor made for these nostalgic times.

But while we are not so sure about the viability of thousands of new banks, we are in agreement with John Mcdonnell when it comes to the need for people to have access to cash machines that don’t impose charges. A proposal to introduce new “Post Bank” ATMS across rural areas would enjoy our full support.