CASH INFRUSTRUCTURE CRUMBLING AMID LACK OF ACTION

Once again I led for the SNP in a debate on access to cash and called on the UK Government to urgently introduce legislation to ensure that the UK’s cash infrastructure is protected.

The Covid19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the UK’s already fragile cash infrastructure, as more businesses increasingly insist on cashless payments. This creates financial exclusion for those who rely on cash payments for a number of reasons – around five million people across the UK.

Free to access cash machines are disappearing at an alarming rate not least because banks have cut their fees to ATM providers. Ban ks have also completely abandoned their social responsibilities and duty of care to their customers by abandoning our towns. Eight towns across the constituency of North Ayrshire & Arran have no access to banks at all, heaping more pressure on stretched postmasters as their post offices take on more banking services but without being properly remunerated by the banks for this extra work.

The UK Government has promised a Bill to protect access to cash but there is no timetable for its introduction. We cannot afford any more delay as our cash infrastructure continues to crumble causing social and financial exclusion on a grand scale.

Watch my speech below.