Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown – who took the decision to nationalise and break up the Bradford & Bingley banking operation at the height of the financial crisis – has been invited to meet his critics in Bradford later this year.

Campaigners for around one million former Bradford & Bingley shareholders are to stage a public meeting in September to highlight their continued quest for compensation.

The meeting on Saturday, September 27, at the Cedar Court Hotel will coincide with the sixth anniversary of the decision by Gordon Brown and then Chancellor Alistair Darling to nationalise the B&B and sell its savings and branches business to Spanish-owned bank Santander in 2008.

The remaining mortgage business was rolled into state-owned UK Asset Resolution, which operates from the former B&B headquarters at Crossflatts and also includes assets from the former North East-based Northern Rock business.

The Bradford & Bingley Action Group, led by chairman David Blundell, has campaigned tirelessly but unsuccessfully for compensation for former B&B shareholders whose holdings were wiped out by the nationalisation and sale.

Mr Blundell has repeatedly claimed to have met with a ‘wall of silence’ and obfuscation from the authorities, including the Treasury, the Cabinet Office, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority and its predecessor to its attempts to discover why B&B was broken up.

He said: “The meeting will mark the sixth anniversary of Gordon Brown’s decision to destroy B&B as a going concern when it had a stronger balance sheet than Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland which were allowed to continue operating.

“Gordon Brown has been invited to speak which will provide him with the opportunity to explain why his Government nationalised B&B in the manner that it did.

“Other senior members of the major political parties have also been invited to speak, which if they attend should provide a useful indication of their intentions in this matter prior to the General Election in 2015.

“The main purpose of the meeting is to present the positive aspects of the campaign going forward and discuss the past failings of Her Majesty’s Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Cabinet Office and the Bank of England. For example, informed opinion amongst many in the accounting profession is convinced that there will be a substantial surplus when B&B is finally wound down. This should be returned to the shareholders and not the Treasury.”

Mr Blundell will address the meeting along with Shipley MP Philip Davies, who has backed the campaign throughout and in November secured a parliamentary debate on the B&B nationalisation.

He is expecting a high level of interest in the meeting and requests to attend will be treated on a first come first served basis.

To register e-mail david.ward-blundell@sky.com or write to Kirktowers, Elmwood Lane, Barwick-in-Elmet, Leeds, LS15 4JS.