I am pushing hard for the setting up of a new Post Bank, based on the nationwide network of Post Offices.

I am sponsoring a Commons motion calling on the Government to act as a matter of urgency.

A Post Bank would fill a huge gap in the market as banks have progressively withdrawn from the high street, leaving many sizeable communities with no bank whatsoever. In many parts of Pendle, the traditional bank is a distant memory.

The Post Office branch network should be seen as a national asset and developed to deliver new banking services which people can trust.

There would be local financial advice and help available to all of us, including the three million people across the country without bank accounts.

This is not airy-fairy pie-in-the-sky stuff. France, Italy and Germany all have their own Post Banks which are popular and profitable. At a time when trust in onventional banks is hitting rock-bottom why can’t we think and act imaginatively? So far as I am concernedthe new bank can’t come quickly enough.

For more information on the Post Bank

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