'Last bank in town' bid is launched by Lib Dems

THE Lib Dems have put forward a plan to protect communities from bank closures.

- By David Walker

They want the Scottish Government to exempt “the last bank in town” from business rates.

The party has also called for more banking hubs to keep services available.

At the party's spring conference in Inverness, the plan was outlined by MP Jamie Stone (Caithness Sutherland and Ross) and David Green, the party's candidate for the Scottish Parliament seat there.

Bank of Scotland branches in Golspie and Wick are to shut next year, leaving Caithness and Sutherland with no high street banks and rais-ing concerns about access to face-to-face financial services for local people.