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Lloyds Banking Group is to close a further 136 branches.

Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said it will shut 61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax, and 14 Bank of Scotland sites between May this year and March 2026.

All workers affected by the closures would be offered alternative roles, the group said.

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A list of the affected branches, with their expected closure date:

Lloyds

• Lloyds Biggleswade – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Bishop Auckland – 08/05/2025
• Lloyds Blandford – 10/11/2025
• Lloyds Bolton Farnworth – 28/05/2025
• Lloyds Bridgnorth – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Brigg – 05/03/2026
• Lloyds Bristol Bishopsworth – 06/11/2025
• Lloyds Bristol Clifton – 21/05/2025
• Lloyds Bristol Patchway – 28/05/2025
• Lloyds Bromsgrove – 07/05/2025
• Lloyds Bury – 21/10/2025
• Lloyds Cardiff Whitchurch – 29/05/2025
• Lloyds Caterham – 05/03/2026
• Lloyds Chard – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Coventry Foleshill – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Dorchester – 19/06/2025
• Lloyds Dunstable – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds East Grinstead – 12/11/2025
• Lloyds Falmouth – 13/11/2025
• Lloyds Feltham – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Ferndown – 17/11/2025
• Lloyds Fulham – 27/05/2025
• Lloyds Glossop – 09/03/2026
• Lloyds Godalming – 29/05/2025
• Lloyds Herne Bay – 21/05/2025
• Lloyds Hexham – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Hornchurch Station Lane – 11/09/2025
• Lloyds Houghton le Spring – 10/03/2026
• Lloyds Hucknall – 04/03/2026
• Lloyds Kidderminster – 16/10/2025
• Lloyds Launceston – 12/05/2025
• Lloyds Leeds Crossgates – 20/08/2025
• Lloyds Leominster – 18/11/2025
• Lloyds Leyland – 08/05/2025
• Lloyds Liverpool Breck Rd – 04/03/2026
• Lloyds Loughton – 12/11/2025
• Lloyds Louth – 07/05/2025
• Lloyds Ludlow – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Manchester Moston – 11/03/2026
• Lloyds Manchester Newton Heath – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Margate – 14/05/2025
• Lloyds Pembroke Dock – 26/06/2025
• Lloyds Peterlee Yoden Way – 03/03/2026
• Lloyds Plymstock – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Pontardawe – 19/11/2025
• Lloyds Pontyclun – 12/05/2025
• Lloyds Prudhoe – 15/05/2025
• Lloyds Rayleigh – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Seaton – 11/03/20265
• Lloyds Sheffield Woodhouse – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Shipston-on-Stour – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Sleaford – 12/03/2026
• Lloyds Southall – 15/10/2025
• Lloyds Southsea – 02/06/2025
• Lloyds Stoke-on-Trent – 30/10/2026
• Lloyds Thornbury Avon – 26/02/2026
• Lloyds Tooting – 08/10/2025
• Lloyds Tunstall – 09/03/2026
• Lloyds Walthamstow – 22/10/2025
• Lloyds Welwyn Garden City – 11/06/2025
• Lloyds Wymondham – 12/03/2026

Halifax

• Halifax Balham – 22/05/2025
• Halifax Bangor (N Ireland) – 29/05/2025
• Halifax Barrow in Furness – 10/09/2025
• Halifax Bexleyheath – 23/10/2025
• Halifax Birmingham Bearwood – 02/03/2026
• Halifax Blackpool Lytham Road – 29/10/2025
• Halifax Bolton – 20/11/2025
• Halifax Brentwood – 10/09/2025
• Halifax Bromsgrove – 29/05/2025
• Halifax Cannon Street – 28/05/2025
• Halifax Carmarthen – 06/10/2025
• Halifax Castleford – 08/09/2025
• Halifax Cirencester – 25/09/2025
• Halifax Clapham Junction – 23/09/2025
• Halifax Crewe – 14/10/2025
• Halifax Derby East St – 23/10/2025
• Halifax Eltham – 29/10/2025
• Halifax Epsom – 15/09/2025
• Halifax Erdington – 24/09/2025
• Halifax Felixstowe – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Fleetwood – 25/06/2025
• Halifax Folkestone – 09/10/2025
• Halifax Fulham – 08/05/2025
• Halifax Gainsborough – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Hayes – 06/10/2025
• Halifax Hexham – 05/11/2025
• Halifax Horsforth – 24/02/2025
• Halifax Hove – 20/10/2025
• Halifax Huntingdon – 15/05/2025
• Halifax Kingsbury – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Kingswood – 08/10/2025
• Halifax Launceston – 03/06/2025
• Halifax Leek – 04/06/2025
• Halifax Letchworth – 03/06/2025
• Halifax London Strand – 08/05/2025
• Halifax Long Eaton – 18/09/2025
• Halifax Mold – 16/10/2025
• Halifax Nelson – 04/03/2026
• Halifax Northwich – 03/09/2025
• Halifax Omagh – 19/05/2025
• Halifax Peterlee – 03/03/2026
• Halifax Pontypridd – 15/07/2025
• Halifax Rayleigh – 20/05/2025
• Halifax Rhyl – 23/09/2025
• Halifax Richmond (Surrey) – 16/09/2025
• Halifax Sittingbourne – 15/10/2025
• Halifax Skegness – 03/09/2025
• Halifax Sleaford – 06/11/2025
• Halifax Southport – 07/10/2025
• Halifax St Annes – 12/06/2025
• Halifax St Austell – 13/05/2025
• Halifax Stevenage Queensway – 06/01/2026
• Halifax Telford – 22/10/2025
• Halifax Walkden – 25/09/2025
• Halifax Wallasey – 04/09/2025
• Halifax Waltham Cross – 27/05/2025
• Halifax Welwyn Garden City – 11/06/2025
• Halifax Wickford – 10/11/2025
• Halifax Wilmslow – 19/05/2025
• Halifax Winton – 01/10/2025
• Halifax Woolwich – 01/10/2025

Bank of Scotland

• Bank of Scotland Alexandria – 02/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Annan – 02/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Barrhead – 21/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Bishopbriggs – 21/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Corstorphine West – 29/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Wester Hailes – 27/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Helensburgh – 05/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Kirkintilloch – 22/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Moffat – 29/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Peebles – 27/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Pitlochry – 30/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Sanquhar – 28/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Thornhill – 03/11/2025
• Bank of Scotland Uddingston – 22/05/2025

Lloyds blamed the move on customers shifting away from banking in person to using online services, meaning there is less need for physical sites.

It made the announcement just weeks after taking the decision to allow its customers to access on-site services across any of the group’s branded branches.

Lloyds also revealed the planned closure of two major offices – in Liverpool and Dunfermline – affecting more than 1,000 staff.

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Lloyds boss gives interest rate predictions

A spokesperson said: “Over 20 million customers are using our apps for on-demand access to their money and customers have more choice and flexibility than ever for their day-to-day banking.

“Alongside our apps, customers can also use telephone banking, visit a community banker or use any Halifax, Lloyds or Bank of Scotland branch, giving access to many more branches.

“Customers can also do their everyday banking at over 11,000 branches of the Post Office or in a Banking Hub.”

The UK’s big banking brands have been shutting branches at pace since the fallout from the financial crisis in 2008 which sparked a rush to cut costs.

The uptake of digital banking services has seen more than 6,000 sites go to the wall since 2015, according to the consumer group Which?

The closure plan revealed on Wednesday will bring the Lloyds brand down to 386 branches, Halifax down to 281 branches and Bank of Scotland to 90 branches once completed.

Campaigners have long argued that the rate of closures has been too quick to allow alternatives, such as banking hubs, to fill the void.

The elderly are least likely to bank online while rural communities have been particularly hard hit through the loss of banking services altogether.

Banking hubs are physical sites where services are shared.

As of September 2024, there were 76 across the UK though that number was set to more than double within months, according to Cash Access UK.

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Business

UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

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UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

The UK economy unexpectedly shrank in May, even after the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs were paused, official figures showed.

A standard measure of economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), contracted 0.1% in May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Rather than a fall being anticipated, growth of 0.1% was forecast by economists polled by Reuters as big falls in production and construction were seen.

It followed a 0.3% contraction in April, when Mr Trump announced his country-specific tariffs and sparked a global trade war.

A 90-day pause on these import taxes, which has been extended, allowed more normality to resume.

This was borne out by other figures released by the ONS on Friday.

Exports to the United States rose £300m but “remained relatively low” following a “substantial decrease” in April, the data said.

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Overall, there was a “large rise in goods imports and a fall in goods exports”.

A ‘disappointing’ but mixed picture

It’s “disappointing” news, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said. She and the government as a whole have repeatedly said growing the economy was their number one priority.

“I am determined to kickstart economic growth and deliver on that promise”, she added.

But the picture was not all bad.

Growth recorded in March was revised upwards, further indicating that companies invested to prepare for tariffs. Rather than GDP of 0.2%, the ONS said on Friday the figure was actually 0.4%.

It showed businesses moved forward activity to be ready for the extra taxes. Businesses were hit with higher employer national insurance contributions in April.

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The expansion in March means the economy still grew when the three months are looked at together.

While an interest rate cut in August had already been expected, investors upped their bets of a 0.25 percentage point fall in the Bank of England’s base interest rate.

Such a cut would bring down the rate to 4% and make borrowing cheaper.

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Is Britain going bankrupt?

Analysts from economic research firm Pantheon Macro said the data was not as bad as it looked.

“The size of the manufacturing drop looks erratic to us and should partly unwind… There are signs that GDP growth can rebound in June”, said Pantheon’s chief UK economist, Rob Wood.

Why did the economy shrink?

The drops in manufacturing came mostly due to slowed car-making, less oil and gas extraction and the pharmaceutical industry.

The fall was not larger because the services industry – the largest part of the economy – expanded, with law firms and computer programmers having a good month.

It made up for a “very weak” month for retailers, the ONS said.

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Business

UK economy remains fragile – and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

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UK economy remains fragile - and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

Monthly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures are volatile and, on their own, don’t tell us much.

However, the picture emerging a year since the election of the Labour government is not hugely comforting.

This is a government that promised to turbocharge economic growth, the key to improving livelihoods and the public finances. Instead, the economy is mainly flatlining.

Output shrank in May by 0.1%. That followed a 0.3% drop in April.

Ministers were celebrating a few months ago as data showed the economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter.

Hangover from artificial growth

However, the subsequent data has shown us that much of that growth was artificial, with businesses racing to get orders out of the door to beat the possible introduction of tariffs. Property transactions were also brought forward to beat stamp duty changes.

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In April, we experienced the hangover as orders and industrial output dropped. Services also struggled as demand for legal and conveyancing services dropped after the stamp duty changes.

Many of those distortions have now been smoothed out, but the manufacturing sector still struggled in May.

Signs of recovery

Manufacturing output fell by 1% in May, but more up-to-date data suggests the sector is recovering.

“We expect both cars and pharma output to improve as the UK-US trade deal comes into force and the volatility unwinds,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

Meanwhile, the services sector eked out growth of 0.1%.

A 2.7% month-to-month fall in retail sales suppressed growth in the sector, but that should improve with hot weather likely to boost demand at restaurants and pubs.

Struggles ahead

It is unlikely, however, to massively shift the dial for the economy, the kind of shift the Labour government has promised and needs in order to give it some breathing room against its fiscal rules.

The economy remains fragile, and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner.

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Is Britain going bankrupt?

Concerns that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is considering tax hikes could weigh on consumer confidence, at a time when businesses are already scaling back hiring because of national insurance tax hikes.

Inflation is also expected to climb in the second half of the year, further weighing on consumers and businesses.

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Business

Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

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Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

The government is speeding up its adoption of AI to try and encourage economic growth – with backing from Facebook parent Meta.

It will today announce a $1m (£740,000) scheme to hire up to 10 AI “experts” to help with the adoption of the technology.

Sir Keir Starmer has spoken repeatedly about wanting to use the developing technology as part of his “plan for change” to improve the UK – with claims it could produce tens of billions in savings and efficiencies.

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The government is hoping the new hires could help with problems like translating classified documents en masse, speeding up planning applications or help with emergency responses when power or internet outages occur.

The funding for the roles is coming from Meta, through the Alan Turing Institute. Adverts will go live next week, with the new fellowships expected to start at the beginning of 2026.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This fellowship is the best of AI in action – open, practical, and built for public good. It’s about delivery, not just ideas – creating real tools that help government work better for people.”

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He added: “The fellowship will help scale that kind of impact across government, and develop sovereign capabilities where the UK must lead, like national security and critical infrastructure.”

The projects will all be based on open source models, meaning there will be a minimal cost for the government when it comes to licensing.

Meta describes its own AI model, Llama, as open source, although there are questions around whether it truly qualifies for that title due to parts of its code base not being published.

The owner of Facebook has also sponsored several studies into the benefits of government adopting more open source AI tools.

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Minister reveals how AI could improve public services

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Mr Kyle’s Department for Science and Technology has been working on its mission to increase the uptake of AI within government, including through the artificial intelligence “incubator”, under which these fellowships will fall.

The secretary of state has pointed to the success of Caddy – a tool that helps call centre workers search for answers in official documents faster – and its expanding use across government as an example of an AI success story.

He said the tool, developed with Citizens Advice, shows how AI can “boost productivity, improve decision-making, and support frontline staff”. A trial suggested it could cut waiting times for calls in half.

My Kyle also recently announced a deal with Google to provide tech support to government and assist with modernisation of data.

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Joel Kaplan, the chief global affairs officer from Meta, said: “Open-source AI models are helping researchers and developers make major scientific and medical breakthroughs, and they have the potential to transform the delivery of public services too.

“This partnership with ATI will help the government access some of the brightest minds and the technology they need to solve big challenges – and to do it openly and in the public interest.”

Jean Innes, the head of the Alan Turing Institute, said: “These fellowships will offer an innovative way to match AI experts with the real world challenges our public services are facing.”

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