Rachel Eburne

Wouldn’t it be good to have a network of truly local banks that acted in the public interest, served local communities and helped small businesses?  The New Economics Foundation (www.neweconomics.org) has just produced a report showing how this can be done – by building on the current level of public ownership of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and transforming it into a network of local, publicly accountable banks.  This type of approach already exists in countries such as Germany and Switzerland but here, in the UK, Government still seems to think that big is best.  I  will be asking David Ruffley what is being done on this and hope national politicians read this report and have the common sense to act on it before selling RBS off.