Nigel Farage’s bank account was closed unfairly – is this a sign of things to come?

However you feel about the former UKIP leader, closing accounts based on a person’s political or religious views is dangerous, says Rachel Pearce.

You start applying for a bank account online and the usual questions appear: name, date of birth, country of residence, blah blah. It’s all going well until you’re asked for your favourite crumpet topping (marmite and cheese triangles, obvs!), and all of a sudden your application is tossed into the cyber bin from a colossal height. There’s nothing you can do about it. There will be no bank account for you… and no crumpets either, for that matter.

OK, so that’s a silly example, but when the news about Nigel Farage’s recent bank account closure broke, a surprising number of people ("tens of thousands", according to Farage) came forward to say they had also been kicked out of their accounts for tenuous reasons that had nothing to do with their credit history or money management. Several Christians claim to have been blacklisted for expressing socially unacceptable views on same sex relationships.