The fight to keep the Bradford & Bingley a mutual building society is hotting up as the crucial vote draws nearer.

The chairmen of two influential Parliamentary all-party groups, representing 170 MPs, have joined forces to push the case for mutuality at the B&B.

And Shipley MP Chris Leslie is firmly behind the move as a member of one of the groups - the All-Party Building Societies Group. The other is the All-Party Insurance and Financial Services Group.

Finance industry workers' union Unifi is also calling on B&B members to vote no to plans to turn the building society into a bank at the special meeting on July 17.

Mr Leslie said: "Mutuality offers the best benefit to savers and borrowers - but borrowers in particular. It also means the profits are returned to the members. The B&B's management team changed their mind over mutuality but I have not been so easily persuaded."

Andrew Love MP, chairman of the All-Party Building Societies Group and John Greenway, chairman of the All-Party Insurance and Financial Services Group have written a joint letter to newspaper editors. They say research from previous conversions shows windfalls are soon eroded by higher interest on loans.

At the same time Frank Needham, financial services union Unifi's national officer, also urged B&B members to vote against conversion. He is also founder of the Mutual Interest Campaign.

He said: "Borrowers in the Bradford & Bingley who rejected the carpetbagger-sponsored resolution last year would soon be worse off. Employees will also be aware of the large number of redundancies among staff in former building societies."

The B&B started planning to become a financial services plc after a pro-conversion resolution, put to its annual meeting in April, 1999, from Irish plumber Stephen Major, was backed by 62 per cent of the 63 per cent of members who voted.

e-mail: paul.parker@

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