JEFF PRESTRIDGE: I like financial institution hubs… and now Chancellor tells me she does too

On Dec 15, 2024

By JEFF PRESTRIDGE FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

Updated: 21:51, 14 December 2024

The country’s economy may not yet be in growth mode, as the latest GDP figures confirmed, but Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was in ebullient mood on Friday as she opened the country’s 100th banking hub.

The Chancellor was in Darwen, Lancashire, a town bordering the rugged West Pennine Moors, which boomed in the 19th century on the back of the thriving cotton industry, but has since faced tough times despite its continued reputation for its paint and paper industries.

Like many towns up and down the country, Darwen has lost all its banks – Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander have all fled its nest in the past eight years.

But the new hub, providing banking services to customers (personal and business) of all the main high-street banks, is seen by ‘Darreners’ (the town’s locals) as a big boost to the community.

‘Bloody marvellous,’ said an emphatic and chirpy Tracy Fisher, who works nearby at the Number 1 Coffee Shop.

Serving me up a delightful bacon sarnie and double espresso, 52-year-old Tracy said: ‘This town is heavily cash-dependent. It’s awash with small shops and has an indoor market where many businesses are cash only. So the hub, where people can deposit cash and do basic banking, is a welcome Christmas present. It’s time we had some good news around here.’

Commitment: Jeff Prestridge with Chancellor Rachel Reeves in Darwen

It’s a view shared by the Chancellor, as I grabbed five minutes with her in the hub’s small back room. ‘Big supporter of hubs?’ I asked, refusing the kind offer of a croissant. The response from the smiling Reeves was instantaneous.

‘A massive supporter,’ she said. ‘I am really delighted to be [officially] opening the 100th banking hub today. Five hubs have opened just this week and we wanted to get them open before Christmas.’

She continued: ‘This is the most important time for the high street and people not being able to access cash – and businesses not being able to cash up. Over the last few years, the only news about our high streets has been bad news – their hollowing out, high-street names disappearing, banks leaving, problems with crime and antisocial behaviour.

‘So it’s really good to be announcing and doing something that is positive. Not just talking about it, but rolling it out.’

The Darwen hub is indeed rather impressive. Located in a shop that had been vacant for more than a year, it’s bright, modern and welcoming. It’s open Monday to Friday, run by the Post Office, with representatives of Barclays, Halifax, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander on hand on separate days to help their own customers with any banking problems they may have. Like all hubs, it’s there because the town is bankless.

Asif Patel, the hub’s boss, also runs the local post office. Although it’s early days, he has had loads of people coming in.

‘It’s great for some of the town’s more elderly customers,’ he told me. ‘If they’ve got a problem, they can come in here and see a representative from their bank and get it sorted. It saves them a bus journey to Blackburn.’

In its Election manifesto, Labour said it was committed to having 350 banking hubs up and running by 2029. It’s a pledge the Chancellor has no intention of breaking.

Pointing in the direction of nearby Tulip Siddiq, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, the Government’s driving force on hubs, she said: ‘Tulip is having lots of MPs coming up to her asking her questions about the hubs. Whether in the Commons or at her surgeries, they are all saying: ‘What can I do to get a banking hub?’ MPs from all parties.’

Impressed: Jeff with Tracy Fisher from the Number 1 Coffee Shop

With 80 more hubs in the pipeline, Reeves said she was ‘determined to deliver on the 350-hub commitment. ‘I’m keen to be at the 200th and 350th bank openings to cut those ribbons,’ she added.

Tulip is pleased with the advance of hubs, confident that by this time next year there could be 230 up and running. She told me: ‘In opposition, we did this paper called Financing Growth and everyone we talked to spoke about face-to- face banking hubs. The importance of having banking services that you could physically go into.

‘I know there’s a perception that everyone banks online, but actually there are lots of people, especially vulnerable people – older people and those from lower socio- economic backgrounds – that find it difficult. Banking hubs are a solution for these people.’

Although the official opening of the 100th banking hub was dominated by the Chancellor’s presence, it was also good to see representatives from those organisations that have made hubs

happen: Cash Access UK (the organisation set up to find suitable sites and funded by the banks), UK Finance (the banking trade group which got the first hubs up and running), and cash machine network Link (which determines which towns should get a hub).

It was also good to see Natalie Ceeney there. She was integral to getting the hub snowball rolling with her 2019 Access to Cash Review. She even found time to pat me on the back. ‘Without your support for hubs,’ she said, ‘we wouldn’t be where we are today, celebrating the 100th hub.’

Kind words. The last words go to John Howells, chief executive of Link. He believes that 350 hubs is too low a bar. As banks continue to shut their branches, leaving towns bankless, he argues that 1,000 is a more realistic target.

…but she’s not for turning on winter fuel

I couldn’t let the Chancellor go in Darwen without asking her about her decision to take away the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners. It’s a move that angered thousands of Daily Mail and MoS readers – and prompted me to deliver a letter to No11 Downing Street, demanding a rethink.

‘It was a tough decision,’ she said. ‘We inherited a £22billion black hole and we’ve now put the public finances on a solid footing.’

Reassuringly, she added that the Government was ‘working hard’ to make sure that all pensioners entitled to pension credit were getting it.

‘We’ve seen applications increase by 150 per cent. That is really important. They [on pension credit] are the poorest pensioners and a lot of them under the last Government weren’t getting the support they were entitled to.’

‘So did you get my letter?’ I asked. ‘No,’ was the answer, followed by laughter.

After the interview with the Chancellor, I walked over the road to speak to Shelly Brogan, owner of butchers Shelly’s, about the hub (she’s a fan).

When I told Shelly that Reeves was in the banking hub opposite, an elderly customer interrupted. ‘We’re £10 over the threshold for pension credit,’ he said. ‘No heating for us this Christmas.

He then marched out, saying: ‘I’d better not say any more before I get arrested.’

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