Having met with representatives of Legal and General, Crispin Blunt MP announced the following:
“It is highly regrettable that Legal and General’s Board announced last week it intends to close its Kingswood site in 2018. It would be sad to see this prestigious company vacate the site after decades of being a part of the local community and economy. I would respect a decision that its presence in Kingswood is no longer suitable for its business and customer needs and that it would need to optimise the use of existing alternative sites. However, I have been presented with a credible case on behalf of the employees at Kingswood that this decision is not in the wider interest of Legal and General Shareholders and Policyholders but in the interest of its Senior Management. It is most definitely not in the interest of the community of Kingswood to lose the site and its workforce to a wholly uncertain future.
"If on examination this case is sound, the shareholders should invite the Board to reconsider. Along with the employees, I will be investigating the merits of this decision before the AGM in May 2016. This decision also has serious implications for the community of Kingswood and around, alongside the difficulties to be faced by the 1550 people who still work in the company.
Legal and General still has to make its case.”