A BID to ban cash machine charges has been launched at Westminster.

The Bill by Rutherglen Labour MP Ged Killen would also protect access to cash machines in communities where there is still a demand for them.

The MP introduced the Bill to the House of Commons today and has the support of SNP and Conservative MPs as well as his Labour colleagues.

Mr Killen said that while banking is moving on-line there is still a need for cash and for machine to provide access to it.

The MP criticised the banks for treating customers with contempt.

He said: “ATM charges are a rip off.

“Over the last few years the public have supported banks, their hard-earned taxes were used to bail them out and in response to that, or communities are being ripped off by the banks at every turn as they relentlessly pursue their mission to drive services online and move towards a cashless society.

He told MPs in the House of Commons that some communities were left with no cash machines after bank closures

He said: “In my own constituency we have seen banking services gradually pushed out to the two larger towns of Rutherglen and Hamilton at either end of the constituency with towns in the middle like Cambuslang left with no bank branches. In fact, there are now more ATMs in the Houses of Parliament than there in the entirety of Cambuslang main street.”