ONE of Cornwall's six MPs has come under fire from local residents in his constituency after allegedly taking credit for something that neither he, nor his team, were actually involved in. 

Derek Thomas, MP for St Ives, West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, has been criticised by constituents after announcing the opening of a new banking hub in Helston while claiming to have been campaigning for this outcome. 

As reported in The Packet, Helston is set to benefit from the arrival of a new community banking hub, however, according to those who worked on bringing the hub to Helston, the MP was not actually involved in the process.

According to Jean Slater of Bowden's: "I have personally been involved in this matter, and want you all to know that this success is actually the result of many months of hard work by elected members and employees of Helston Town Council, John Warwick of the Place Shaping Board, organisations such as Citizen’s Advice Cornwall, represented by CEO Gill Pipkin, Inclusion Cornwall manager Bev Wilson and Board Member Andrea Gilbert, and local businesses through Helston Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"Neither Derek nor his team took any active part in this at all, and he did not attend, or send a representative to any meetings or discussions.

"Our Town Council has been slated a lot on social media, particularly recently, with the publication of council tax rates for the coming year, and I wanted you all to know that thanks and credit for this should go to HTC, rather than our MP, who has sought to garner public approval which he does not deserve."

However, when contacted by The Packet, Derek Thomas did apologise for the way in which his comments could have been taken and stressed "Helston's particular success is down to the hard work of many other people to make this happen."

Derek Thomas MP told The Packet: "It was not my intention in any way to take the credit for this success via my Facebook post yesterday, but I can see why it appears this way and I apologise to those who are offended by my post.

"I have spoken with one constituent in particular who picked me up on this omission on my Facebook post, and I have amended the post to reflect this astounding contribution that the community has made to ensure that credit is given where credit is due - what this shows is that when a community works together, successes such as this one are very possible.

"I have personally been involved with the discussions about banking hubs for some years, starting with my work on the Select Committee for Work and Pensions: we called the chief executives of Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest to an inquiry, before recommending the establishment of banking hubs in under-served communities.

"Subsequently, I have been campaigning for community banking in Westminster, holding meetings with the LINK executives who set the criteria by which new banking hubs are assessed.

"However, Helston's particular success is down to the hard work of many other people to make this happen.

"This includes such people as the elected members and employees of Helston Town Council, John Warwick of the Place Shaping Board, organisations such as Citizen’s Advice Cornwall represented by Gill Pipkin, Inclusion Cornwall manager Bev Wilson, and Board Member Andrea Gilbert, and local businesses through Helston Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"This is a success achieved by the community of Helston, for the community of Helston."

Helston Town Council said it was pleased to have been able to work with a range of local organisations to help secure the creation of a Community Banking Hub for the town.

The council says it has been working for a number of months in partnership with the Helston Place Shaping Board, Helston & District Chamber of Commerce, Inclusion Cornwall, Helston Methodist Chapel and Citizens Advice Cornwall in advance of the closure of the last bank.

The initial application to LINK for a Community Banking Hub for Helston was not successful, so the partnership worked hard to secure a meeting with senior officials from LINK to discuss the application and to see what additional evidence would be needed in order to make a difference to the decision.

At this meeting, which was attended by Helston Town Council, the Helston Place Shaping Board, Cornwall Councillor Mike Thomas, Citizens Advice Cornwall and Inclusion Cornwall, further evidence was given about the needs of the business and local community in and around Helston.

Yesterday, Helston Town Council received the news that LINK had listened to the partnership and that the re-assessment had been successful, meaning Helston will get a Community Banking Hub in the near future.

The Town Mayor Cllr Tim Grattan-Kane said: "We are delighted with the news that the re-assessment by LINK has been successful as the research undertaken with residents and local businesses showed how important access to cash, counter services and one to one support in a bank is to people in this otherwise digital age.

"The partnership also made the case that Helston doesn’t just serve the local population, but that the town is an important centre for many more thousands of residents and businesses on the Lizard peninsula and surrounding areas.

"We would like to thank all the above organisations in the partnership who have helped make this happen for the town and surrounding communities."