THE MP for Weaver Vale said Santander is 'turning its back' on its customers after the bank said its Runcorn branch would close.

It comes after transactions fell by a third over two years prior to the pandemic and declined by a further 50 per cent in 2020.

Santander branches will be closing between June and August with the Shopping City store set to close on July 1.

Mike Amesbury claims the bank is ‘turning its back’ on valued customers.

He said: “It’s disappointing news when you think how much support was given to the banks, courtesy of the taxpayer, after the 2008 financial crisis.

“In terms of the coronavirus restrictions, there’s no doubt footfall will have dropped off but many people still want that face-to-face personalised service.

“Santander is turning its back on valued customers who are not online and many small businesses who still prefer to visit their local branch in person.

“It’s also a worry in terms of job losses and I will be writing to the chief executive to seek reassurances around that.

“I understand the management at Shopping City are working hard to attract new tenants but this is another business walking away.

“However, the Santander decision may be premature as I am aware of plans being drawn up behind the scenes that should inject new life into the centre.

“Government ministers stand up in Parliament and claim to be protecting the network of bank branches as well as the ATM network. Well, maybe they need to try harder.”

Adam Bishop, Santander’s head of branches, said: “Branch usage by customers has fallen considerably over recent years so we have made the difficult decision to consolidate our presence in areas where we have multiple branches relatively close together.

“We will provide every support to customers of closing branches to find alternative ways to bank with us that best suit their individual needs.

“We are also working alongside our unions to support colleagues through these changes and to find alternative roles for those impacted wherever possible.

“We continue to believe that branches have an important role to play and we expect the size of our network to remain stable for the foreseeable future.

“We are committed to supporting our customers and responding to changes in the way customers want to access services.”

Most of the branches being closed are less than three miles from another Santander branch, and the furthest is five miles.

The closures will leave a network of 452 Santander branches across the UK.