'Debanking is censorship and a threat to freedom,' says Jacob Rees-Mogg

Mr Farage has since warned that debanking is damaging enterprise, trust, and free speech. Research by the Prosperity Institute describes it as a debanking epidemic.

We saw it when Reverend Richard Fothergill had his bank account shut down after criticising his bank’s focus on Pride initiatives.

The Prosperity Institute also reports that three-quarters of new start-up defence-related businesses cannot access banking services.

A gender-critical parents’ group was also debanked. This scandal needs to stop.

Britain is in the midst of a free speech crisis, and when banks shut people out of the financial system for their beliefs, they are undermining the foundations of a free society.

Freedom of association is meaningless if people cannot pay for the organisations they support, and they cannot do that without access to a bank account, effectively erasing them from the economy because of their views.

Of course, banks are businesses and should have a wide degree of autonomy in deciding whom to take on as clients.

Coutts, for example, has very clear guidelines on the minimum capital a client must hold to open an account.

But the major banks do not, and they must apply their criteria equally and fairly to all users.

Accounts are closed for legitimate reasons such as anti-money laundering rules, risk assessment, counter-terrorism sanctions, and even low profitability.

However, nearly half a million people were debanked last year, according to the Financial Conduct Authority, affecting campaigners against grooming gangs, defence innovators, and politicians who face financial exclusion.

It has become an industry-wide problem that must be stopped.

If the United Kingdom is to remain a country of liberty and fairness, these practices, however prevalent, must end.

Debanking is censorship by stealth and a threat to our freedom.

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