EAST Lothian MP George Kerevan met with senior Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)staff at the House of Commons this week to discuss concerns over the decision to close their Prestonpans branch.
During the hour-long meeting with Alex Dawtrey, the bank’s senior director for public and consumer affairs, and Chris Maguire, head of public affairs for commercial banking, Mr Kerevan called for further public consultations and urged the bank's chief executive of retail to sit down with him, the leader of East Lothian Council and the county's MSP Iain Gray, to discuss the proposed closure.
Mr Kerevan told the Courier: "I relayed to the RBS officials the strong feelings of the people of Prestonpans and East Lothian that the bank’s consultation process has been grossly inadequate.
"This is not just the last RBS branch in Prestonpans, it is the last branch of any bank. RBS has gone back on its promise not to close a branch if it was the last one in a community.
"RBS is effectively in public ownership. Given the fall in bank shares after the Brexit vote, no one thinks it will be sold off any time soon. Therefore it has a special responsibility to act in the interests of its owners – the general public."
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