08-20-2023, 04:43 PM
The Liberal Party has noted recent events in which people labelled under the PEP bracket have had bank account closures, from Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson to members of the Labour Party and the prominent leaders of the Church community among others. All these figures have a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and positions within the public sphere. Despite their different viewpoints however, it is unjust for such people to lose such a critical part of modern day life and an essential part to life in the modern day. The Liberal Party believes it is unjust and echo the words of Jacob Rees-Mogg in Parliament that everyone deserves access to a bank account.
Many of the bank account closures and the struggle to gain new accounts has been linked directly to the political opinions of the people involved. In regards to a Senior Labour politician it was made clear in a Subject Data Access Request that political opinion and viewpoint was the main cause of the closure. Nigel Farage when speaking on his account closures discussed how Brexit was referenced over 30 times in a small portion of a 97 page document his legal team had received. For Reverend Richard Fothergill his stance on the trans-community was referenced as the cause for closure of his bank account. The historian Dominic Lawson saw his daughter denied two bank accounts due to her family ties (Her grandfather was a Conservative Chancellor – Nigel Lawson). Yorkshire Building Society even released a statement saying they are shutting down accounts of people who are rude and/or “discriminate”. This raises a further issue of what are “discriminate” and the potential gray areas that may emerge. Regardless however, people’s right to freedom of speech must be protected within reasonable bounds.
The Liberal Party therefore believes a review into the position of PEPs and those in Public life in regards to their rights to financial services must be conducted in order to protect their human rights and their ability to live freely. To remove someone’s ability to financial services almost renders them a “non-person” and shows an extremely dangerous precedent for censorship and limiting freedoms, something which is strongly against the core principles and values of Liberalism.
Many of the bank account closures and the struggle to gain new accounts has been linked directly to the political opinions of the people involved. In regards to a Senior Labour politician it was made clear in a Subject Data Access Request that political opinion and viewpoint was the main cause of the closure. Nigel Farage when speaking on his account closures discussed how Brexit was referenced over 30 times in a small portion of a 97 page document his legal team had received. For Reverend Richard Fothergill his stance on the trans-community was referenced as the cause for closure of his bank account. The historian Dominic Lawson saw his daughter denied two bank accounts due to her family ties (Her grandfather was a Conservative Chancellor – Nigel Lawson). Yorkshire Building Society even released a statement saying they are shutting down accounts of people who are rude and/or “discriminate”. This raises a further issue of what are “discriminate” and the potential gray areas that may emerge. Regardless however, people’s right to freedom of speech must be protected within reasonable bounds.
The Liberal Party therefore believes a review into the position of PEPs and those in Public life in regards to their rights to financial services must be conducted in order to protect their human rights and their ability to live freely. To remove someone’s ability to financial services almost renders them a “non-person” and shows an extremely dangerous precedent for censorship and limiting freedoms, something which is strongly against the core principles and values of Liberalism.