Business of the House

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

The Prime Minister’s deal absolutely does seek to resolve the issues and concerns for EU citizens living in the UK and for UK citizens living in the EU. It seeks to reassure those who wanted to remain in the EU by securing a close economic and security partnership with our friends and neighbours in the EU. Very importantly, it also delivers on the will of the people expressed in the referendum, which is something that the House has voted to do. My own assessment is that the Prime Minister’s proposal—the withdrawal agreement and the future political declaration—does seek to achieve the very complicated balance of bringing all sides together. We can all point to parts of her deal that we do not like—every single one of us can do that—but it is a compromise that really does seek to provide something for everyone and the best possible combination of outcomes that enables us to deliver on the will of the people.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

Almost every week in the Chamber, we hear Members raising issues to do with bank closures in their constituencies. Over the past two months, Santander and now Barclays have announced that they are leaving Cleethorpes. People need financial advice as well as access to banking services. Will the Leader of the House find time for a debate in which we can explore ways to create financial hubs in town centres, to which people can go for advice and to obtain banking services?

[Andrea Leadsom]

My hon. Friend raises an important point about the issue of the last bank in town and access to financial services, which has come up in the Chamber many times, and he is quite right to raise it. Obviously, we recognise that the way people access financial services is changing, with more people going online and so on, but the industry’s access to banking standard requires banks to carry out a number of steps before they close any branches. Some are coming forward with innovative ways to deliver ongoing banking services, and of course the Post Office now delivers access to banking services, very often at more flexible times—for example, at weekends and so on—than a bank was previously able to offer. My hon. Friend raises an important point, and I encourage him to seek an Adjournment debate to talk about the issues in Cleethorpes.