AN MP is pushing for change to allow a banking hub to be set up in a town which has been hit by multiple bank closures.

Josh MacAlister, the MP for Whitehaven and Workington, spoke in Parliament this week about the need to change the current rules for the creation of banking hubs.

Mr MacAlister is calling for the vital service to be offered in Whitehaven where multiple banks have left the high street in recent years.  

TSB is the latest bank to close this week and others including NatWest, HSBC, Halifax and Barclays have closed branches in Whitehaven over the last few years.

Under current rules, banking hubs can be created in areas where banks have closed. But Mr MacAlister wants this to change so Whitehaven can benefit from a banking hub now.

Speaking in Westminster this week, he said: “Whitehaven is right on the brink of becoming a banking desert.

“We shouldn’t have to wait for towns to become banking deserts before banking hubs become an option.

“A better system would be to change the criteria for banking hubs so that they move to a last plus one rather than a complete banking desert before the option becomes available.”

Whitehaven has just one bank left – Santander – along with The Cumberland Building Society. A pilot banking scheme was recently rolled out in Whitehaven’s Tesco supermarket which allows customers to deposit cash with a number of high street banks.

Many residents and business owners have been calling for a banking hub to be created but Mr MacAlister says the current rules for when and how requests for the service can be made are ‘too restrictive’.

He told The Whitehaven News: “Banking Hubs are a way to ensure that residents and small businesses still have access to financial services on the high street when banks desert communities.

“At the moment, the rules governing when and how requests for a Banking Hub can be made are too restrictive. We shouldn’t have to wait for every bank to leave town before Whitehaven can even be considered for a hub.

“I want the new government to change the rules and in addition to raising it in Parliament I have this week written to the new Minister about this.”