East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald leads cross-party campaign to improve help for small businesses

In a letter signed by MPs from across the Commons benches, SNP MP Kirsten Oswald highlighted a major gap in the current UK government Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) where only a tiny number of big lenders are signed up to administer CBILS overdrafts. Major banks Barclays, Virgin, Lloyds and NatWest are not signed up to the scheme.

The SNP MP is now calling on the UK Treasury to investigate why these major banks are not signed up to provide overdrafts under CBILS, and comes just days after applications opened for a £100 million fund in support grants for SMEs and newly self-employed people announced by the Scottish Government.

Kirsten Oswald said: “Supporting small and medium businesses is crucial to our economy and people’s livelihoods, so it is deeply concerning that only one major UK bank is accredited to deliver vital loans to those who need it most.

“Businesses across the country are impacted by the absence of their banks from these provisions, and it is simply not good enough for the UK government to ignore this issue while businesses struggle needlessly.

“The Chancellor must explain why this is the case and investigate why the UK government’s loan scheme is not delivering the support that these businesses need.

“Colleagues from seven parties across the House of Commons, representing Scottish, English, Northern Irish and Welsh constituencies, have expressed their concern about similar situations to those I’m seeing in my own constituency inbox, so this is clearly not an isolated problem.

“It’s time for the UK Government to act before it’s too late.”