BRITAIN’S biggest banks have come under fire from MPs over the ‘decimation’ of rural services which is leaving people in places like Devon out in the cold.

South Devon Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden led a debate in Westminster Hall focusing on face-to-face banking services in rural areas.

“While big banks make billions in profits they close branches with impunity,” she said. “They are turning their backs on customers and leaving small businesses struggling.”

Last year, she said, Lloyds made £6.7billion in profit, which she said was an ‘incredible’ amount of money, meaning it had the means to maintain rural banking services.

“Nobody needs to be making £6.7billion of profit a year,” she added.

Other Devon MPs also took part in the debate, with Exmouth and Exeter East Conservative MP David Reed saying every major bank had quit Budleigh Salterton, leaving the town and its summer tourists with no access to cash apart from a machine at Tesco.

Ms Voaden said 64 per cent of all bank and building society branches that were open in January 2015 have since closed, and in the 450 square miles of the South Devon constituency there was just one bank branch left.

“It is simply outrageous that banks have been able to get away with this,” she said.

“Face-to-face banking is essential for millions of people and thousands of small businesses. The rapid and ruthless shift towards online banking is potentially disenfranchising millions of people.”

Figures show that 86 per cent of people in rural areas have seen their closest bank branch close, with no alternative bank to switch to. Travelling to a bank by public transport can be a ‘major mission’ taking half a day.

“We are facing a perfect storm of decimated public transport, appalling digital connectivity and closure of banking services,” said Ms Voaden. “Those three make a toxic combination.”

The South Devon MP called for the criteria for the opening of a town banking ‘hub’ to be widened, and added: “Having a bank account and being able to access a range of banking services are a necessity in modern society, not a luxury.

“The government must rebalance things in favour of our high streets and communities and put an end to the favourable treatment for big banks.

“Enough now – it is time that the government took action to protect and restore face-to-face banking services across rural areas.”

Tiverton and Minehead’s Liberal Democrat MP Rachel Gilmour said her constituency stretched across 1,250 square miles and had an elderly population.

If a constituent needs to bank in Taunton, she added, it takes five hours to get there and back by bus.

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, said losing local branches was ‘an appalling bank heist’. He went on: “It is not a vault being raided, and it is not cash being snatched. It is the very banking services that support our most vulnerable being taken away.

“Lloyds closed 218 branches across the country last year, including in Seaton, and will close 95 more in the next year, including in Honiton, while reporting £6.7billion of pre-tax profits. That is an outrage, and the government needs to do more to ensure that the most vulnerable in our society get the services they need in rural regions.”