Witham MP Priti Patel has expressed her concerns over the announcement by the Royal Bank of Scotland will be closing the NatWest branch in Witham on May 17 next year.

RBS claimed that the decision was due to falling customer usage and numbers.

However, Ms Patel expressed concerns about the loss of face-to-face banking advice for her constituents.

She said: “The closure of NatWest and loss of another banking branch will be felt by businesses and residents in the town and surrounding villages.

"While I appreciate that usage has fallen and people are making more use of online banking services, many people and businesses still need face-to-face advice in branch.

Customers looking for advice on financial products will be hit hard by this loss and I will be in contact with NatWest about this decision.”

RBS has announced it will close 62 Royal Bank of Scotland branches and 197 NatWest branches with around 680 redundancies.

The bank, still 72% owned by the taxpayer, is the third this week to announce branch closures and job cuts, following Lloyds and Yorkshire Building Society.

An RBS spokesman said: “More and more of our customers are choosing to do their everyday banking online or on mobile.

“Since 2014 the number of customers using our branches across the UK has fallen by 40% and mobile transactions have increased by 73% over the same period.

"Over 5 million customers now use our mobile banking app and one in five only bank with us digitally.”