Impact On Jobs And Branch Closures Of The Proposed Merger Of Lloyds Tsb And Abbey National

EDM number 273 in 2000-01, proposed by Martin Salter on 30/01/2001.

That this House notes that the Office of Fair Trading is currently considering the proposition of a merger between Abbey National, the fifth largest UK bank, and Lloyds TSB, the third largest bank; further notes that there are 600 Abbey National branch offices within half a mile of a Lloyds TSB branch office; believes these would ultimately be vulnerable to closure, thus reducing customer choice; fears that approximately 8,000 jobs could be lost following any merger between Lloyds TSB and Abbey National; understands that most of the staff in these posts would be female and part time, and a significant number will be aged over 45; notes that according to the latest Lloyds TSB annual report, 16,724 jobs were lost in the four years following the last time Lloyds merged with another bank, the TSB; recalls that the Cruikshank review of banking services stated that 'relatively few mergers among the top ten banks in the UK could presently be argued to be in the public interest' and concluded that the Government should, until the merger law is reform, 'refer all mergers between financial suppliers to the Competition Commission for investigation'; acknowledges that two of the trade unions with members employed by Lloyds TSB and Abbey National, namely UNIFI, the largest trade union for financial services workers and the Abbey National Staff Association, have called for the merger to be referred to the Competition Commission; and calls on all the competition authorities to ensure that the Competition Commission has the opportunity to examine in detail and at length the many and serious issues of public interest that the merger raises.

This motion has been signed by a total of 161 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.