Meeting of the Parliament 04 March 2026 [Draft]
I am not sure that I would have given way if I had known that the member’s intervention was going to be an advert for the Co-operative Party, but I take her point. Banking hubs have an enormous role to play, and I was very pleased to see that Kilsyth will be getting such a hub in due course.
I want to pick up on a point that has been made in the debate. Jackie Dunbar’s motion refers to the circumstances in 2008 when public funds were used on what was an unprecedented scale to stabilise the banking system. Taxpayers stepped in to protect financial institutions and the wider economy. On that basis, it is entirely reasonable to question whether it is appropriate for those same institutions to seek to recoup revenue from the very community organisations that hold our social fabric together and the very communities that funded the stabilisation of the banks almost two decades ago.
We should be looking for social return from the banks. Jackie Dunbar made the reasonable point that it should not be too much to ask that banks provide that form of social return. I agree with that, but I think, more fundamentally, that they should be told to provide it. We can cast it as a moral obligation, as Mercedes Villalba and Liam Kerr did in their exchange, but there are practical steps that can and should be considered. The UK Government has responsibility for banking regulation, and I believe that it should engage directly with banks—not to ask them, but to require them to provide protected, fee-free basic accounts for registered charities and small not-for-profit groups. The UK Government should ensure that conditions linked to past or on-going public shareholdings reflect the need for a social obligation on the part of banks.
In addition, the Financial Conduct Authority could review whether the cumulative impact of charges and branch closures—as has been mentioned—is creating barriers to fair access to essential banking services for the third sector, and it could consider producing guidance that recognises the distinct nature of micro-charities and volunteer-run groups. Those are practical steps that I believe should be taken. Community organisations should be enabled, not hindered, in their work, and they should be able to dedicate the funds that they raise to community benefit, not to the bolstering of bank profits.