Meeting of the Parliament 24 March 2026 [Draft]
I, too, congratulate my colleague Clare Haughey on securing the motion for debate in the chamber. I said earlier during the debate on animal welfare that that was my last speech—well, that was a wee porky. This really is my last speech and, appropriately, it is about my constituency
By email on 11 February, the Bank of Scotland advised me that its branch in Penicuik would close on 4 June. The reason that was given was that its customers are increasingly choosing mobile banking as their preferred way to bank. One could argue that they are given no other choice. Options that have been offered by the bank are helping people with online or mobile banking via their app—whatever that is—or, recognising that not all customers bank digitally, particularly those who are older or have a vulnerability, it has offered telephone banking and the services that are available at the post office. That is all very well, but the post office in Penicuik, which is excellent, is always busy and probably does not have the time, staff or facilities to provide what is being lost: face-to-face meetings.
By return, I wrote:
“I recognise you will have had a flurry of contacts and while I note your alternative proposal , the nearby Post Office is frankly insufficient. I have already had contact from constituents on behalf of elderly and vulnerable adults for whom that ‘solution’ is not sufficient but require the personal service you once provided so well. Indeed, one might say many, including myself aged 81, use online because there is no alternative—local banks having closed down, and even ATMs, right, left and centre. At one time, banks offered a mobile service, perhaps only weekly for a limited time, in some rural areas, and that would be a much better alternative. Is this something the bank would consider?”
I have yet to receive a reply.
Penicuik has a population of 16,500, according to the 2022 census, and it has no doubt expanded a lot since then. Around 20 per cent—that is, some 3,000—are over 60. Of course, some can go online or use an app, but there will be many who cannot, and for them, it is essential that they speak to a real person at the bank, not a chatbot.
Therefore, I would impress upon the Bank of Scotland the need for it to take up my suggestion of reintroducing mobile services, which I understand it abandoned in 2024. There should, at the very least, be such facilities; after all, £137 billion of our own money was paid over to bail out the banks in 2007-08 because of their self-made economic mismanagement.
One thing that we can do is move our accounts from the Bank of Scotland. It is the very least that we can do to show it that we mean business on behalf of those who cannot access it locally any more.
Finally, I, too, give my best wishes to Richard Lochhead. We came together in 1999. Wait for it—there is praise coming. He is a thoroughly able and unassuming politician who quietly got things done—and that is high praise indeed.