Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds is today calling for an urgent end to the ‘uncontrolled retreat of cash’.
In a letter seen by Money Mail, Miss Dodds urges the Government to introduce new laws to protect access to cash ‘as soon as possible’.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged to introduce legislation to address the problem in last year’s Budget. But Miss Dodds says a surge in shops adopting card-only policies during the pandemic has made the need for action ‘more urgent’.
Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds has urged the Government to introduce new laws to protect access to cash ‘as soon as possible’
Writing to Mr Sunak, the Shadow Chancellor also highlights the forthcoming closure of 82 HSBC branches.
Research by Which? suggests that an average of 55 bank branches have shut their doors every month in the past five years.
Miss Dodds writes: ‘All of this adds up to a picture of an uncontrolled retreat from cash, with no one really having a grip of the unequal effects of this on different parts of the community… Almost a year on from the promise of legislation, surely the time is now to bring forward this solution.’
Experts have warned that Britain is not ready to go cashless.
Natalie Ceeney, chair of the Access to Cash review, says: ‘Our cash infrastructure is collapsing in front of our eyes and once it has gone it won’t ever come back.
‘The Government needs to keep its promise and legislate now to protect cash.’
A Treasury spokesman says: ‘We’ve committed to legislate and we’re currently considering the responses to our call to evidence before setting out next steps.’
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