Tens of thousands of people may have been unfairly de-banked, says Treasury minister

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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury said that “tens of thousands” of people may have been unfairly de-banked in a scandal appears to encompass the whole banking sector.

Andrew Griffith MP told GB News: “There are a number of inquiries now going on. Nigel is absolutely right, he’s effectively re-stating the Government’s position…that nobody should be de-banked in a democracy, it’s a really valuable and important fundamental right.

“That applies, of course, as I’ve always maintained across the left and the right. So whether it’s journalists, we’ve seen clerics, it could apply to a trade union [or] law-abiding climate activists. None of those organisations should be de-banked. And that’s not just about NatWest.”

In a discussion with Philip Davies and Esther McVey, he continued: “The [NatWest] chairman Howard Davies is going and that’s an important fact. He’s already announced that he’s going, there is as I understand it already a search for his replacement.

“That search, I’m sure, is proceeding at pace…the really important thing is that we move fast to implement the new regulations that we’ve talked about and make sure that we get to the bottom of it.

“The FCA has said they’re having a look at this, so has the ICO as it relates to potential breach of client confidentiality.

“You and others are aware that this affects potentially thousands if not tens of thousands of people. We should just keep moving forward.”

He added: “I had an exactly similar case in my constituency yesterday of a business that had been with the same institution for a quarter of a century and then suddenly gets a letter out of the blue.

“That is one reason why a big focus of what we’re trying to do is bring the oxygen and transparency to how these decisions are made and on what grounds, and I think whether that’s customers or businesses, that’s a good thing to aim for.”