A LOCAL MP has vowed to fight to keep open Yorkshire Bank branches in Brighouse and Elland.
Chris McCafferty has criticised plans by Yorkshire Bank to close their branch in Hebden Bridge along with up to 40 others.
Mrs McCafferty, Calder Valley MP, said: "I am very concerned that Hebden Bridge is to lose its branch of the Yorkshire Bank.
"When job losses were announced in March, the bank management said that they would minimise cuts in front line staff.
"Now it looks as if they are going back on that pledge.
"They may be named the Yorkshire Bank, but it is obvious that their management is very distant from their historical roots."
She added: "This looks like asset- stripping of the worst kind.
"It seems particularly insensitive to slip these proposals into an announcement that the banking group which includes Yorkshire Bank earned more than £100m in the last six months.
"I will be seeking an urgent explanation from the Yorkshire about their justification for this closure, and demanding to know what plans are being put in place to ensure customers a satisfactory service in the future."
She is also to meet with the trade union, Amicus, to hear concerns about how staff are being treated and to look at what alternatives they have asked the bank to consider.
