Banking Hubs

Katrina Murray Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Graham Leadbitter]

Absolutely. I would consider those to be basic services that people should be able to access as close to their own community as they possibly can.

I was perplexed to read, in response to a written question from November last year, that the Government do not hold any bank closure data at all, despite the figures that I have quoted from Link. That is concerning when it is considered alongside the policy of 350 banking hubs, as neither the Government nor we who provide scrutiny can determine definitively how many closures have occurred and, by extension, how much damage requires to be mitigated.

[Katrina Murray (Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch) (Lab)]

We successfully managed to apply for an interim banking hub in Kilsyth, which opened only four weeks ago. One of the grounds for having that hub was the closure of the Santander branch in Cumbernauld. There was a push then saying that the nearest alternative was the Santander branch in Kirkintilloch. Six months after the branch in Cumbernauld closed, notification was given that the Kirkintilloch branch would also close, with the nearest facility being in Glasgow, 25 miles away.

[Graham Leadbitter]

That gets to the heart of the matter. There is not an understanding by either the regulators or the banks themselves of the impacts that those closures have on communities that view themselves as being neighbours and part of a wider community, and the cumulative impact of that is significant.