As the takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland has finally been forced through by the Labour Government in London, it must be a worrying time for those Inverclyde people who are employed by both Lloyds TSB and HBOS.

Over the past few weeks it has become apparent that this takeover deal is being forced through by the hand of Gordon Brown and his London Labour inner circle.

Ofcourse something had to be done to tackle the problems experienced by HBOS, but Labour's determination to push through a deal which will lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs is scandalous. The way in which other possible takeover deals have been discouraged by the Prime Minister and his complete refusal to even consider temporary nationalisation is appalling.

The nationalisation of Northern Rock has already led to the bank cutting down its mortgage portfolio and has secured the business for the longer term. Inverclyde employees and customers of HBOS will be asking why this approach can't be considered for their bank, given that tens of billions of pounds of public money will be spent on the bank in any case.

There are clear implications for Inverclyde.

Any closure of local branches will mean longer ques in those branches which remain open. More significantly though will be the job losses for local people who work locally or in the Glasgow offices of the two banks. On top of all this, economists say that the longer term consequences will be less competition in the Scottish banking sector. At a time when mortgages are becoming more difficult to obtain anyway, surely Gordon Brown shouldn't be making it yet more difficult?