Labour MP for Erith & Thamesmead

Teresa Pearce MP


Archive for March, 2010


People’s Bank 2

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Teresa Pearce

post-office-with-tp-and-pat-mcfadden

I was pleased to read Jackie Ashleys article  ” Post offices can kickstart Labour’s radical agenda” in today’s Guardian.  Back in November I met with with Pat McFadden MP, Minister of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to discuss which services the Post Office could offer in the future. I spoke with him about how Post Offices are a great British institution that have been part of our communities for over three hundred years and are trusted by the people.

I know how deeply people in Erith and Thamesmead care about the future of our Post Offices , so I want to see them offer more financial service.  It will give people in  access to a full range of banking products at an institution we trust and value. In Thamesmead their is currently no banking facility AT ALL. None.

And at a time when some banks and financial services companies are seeking to reduce face to face contact with customers, the Post Office stands out. It offers a trusted brand, and has more branches than the high street banks combined. It is ideally placed to bring banking services back to the heart of people’s communities.

Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business Began a consultation on what people want  and need from their Post Office.Information about the consultation was made available in all of the network’s 11,500 branches and consultation closed at end of February.

I have high hopes that there will be announcement on this in the Budget this week. Among the proposals are

  1. Post Office Current Account
  2. Post Office Children’s Savings Account – an account designed to encourage children to save through visits to their local Post Office.
  3. Post Office Business Bank Accounts – currently the Post Office offers access to business accounts from a few High Street banks. It could offer increased access to business accounts from other providers, as well as its own business account.
  4. A weekly budgeting account – many low income households are unable to take advantage of the savings that can be made by paying for services by direct debit. One way to tackle this problem is by offering a simple account that could ring-fence a proportion of income each week, and then pay out bills by direct debit on a monthly or quarterly basis.
  5. A closer link between the Post Office and credit unions – it can be difficult to access credit union accounts when people are not in their local area. The local nature of the Post Office makes it ideally placed to allow credit union savers to access their accounts across the country.
  6. Working to ensure all banks’ current accounts can be accessed at a Post Office – currently 60% of current accounts (around 25m accounts) can be accessed at Post Office branches. The Government wants more banks to allow their current accounts to be accessible at the Post Office.

I have my fingers crossed firmly that this weeks Budget will bring good news for Thamesmead and they can at last access the banking services they need.

Mr Foot 1

Posted on March 04, 2010 by Teresa Pearce
Mr Foot still canvassing in his 80s

Mr Foot still canvassing in his 80s

 

I was at a breakfast meeting in The City last week discussing the Banking Crisis and when stiffer regulation was mentioned the usual  cry of  ” oh we cant discourage top people or they will leave” went up.  I believe that is a mainly empty threat.  Of course if business was made impossible  then business would relocate.  But in recent years when business has been given a pretty free hand they have still restructured for tax purposes to put offices and contracts offshore so it seems the back scratching only goes one way.  People who want to make money will stay where money is made and money is made in London.

So it pleased me to read this quote from Mr Foot who died yesterday.

Quote from Mr Foot “We are not here in this world to find elegant solutions, pregnant with initiative, or to serve the ways and modes of profitable progress. No, we are here to provide for all those who are weaker and hungrier, more battered and crippled than ourselves. That is our only certain good and great purpose on earth, and if you ask me about those insoluble economic problems that may arise if the top is deprived of their initiative, I would answer ‘To hell with them.’ The top is greedy and mean and will always find a way to take care of themselves. They always do.”

 

Well said and true. Rest easy Mr Foot.



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