Down in Westminster there’s a lot of talk about banking scandals, libor, mis-sold insurance, mortgages and pensions. The list seems pretty endless right now. I wanted to know how much these scandals were really affecting constituents. So I asked them.

I asked residents how much they trusted our banks and financial institutions on a scale of 1-10. Three quarters of respondents scored less than 5. A quarter scored just 1. Put plainly, 25% of respondees don’t trust our financial services AT ALL.

The good news is that in terms of service our banks are rated better, constituents told me that service via online or telephone banking was nearly always excellent or good.

But I was shocked that nearly half the respondees thought they had been mis-sold a financial product and 40% have had difficulty obtaining a loan or other financial services.

It’s great that banks are getting their customer service (mostly) right. But to me that’s a sticking plaster on a terminal wound. Trust has been decimated and despite government stories of extra cash it doesn’t seem to be being lent to the people who need it.

Finally 80% thought there should be more regulation of our financial institutions – and 80% favoured a judge led rather than parliamentary inquiry into the current wave of banking scandals.

We must find out the truth about what has been going on in our banks behind closed doors. Everyone I speak to thinks this should be done publically and impartially. Then we need regulation put in place to make sure the corruption we have seen cannot happen again. This is the only way to rebuild trust in our banks and financial institutions.

The government has shown how out of touch it is by insisting on a parliamentary rather then judge led inquiry. I will be keeping a close eye on what happens.