Campaigners against rural bank closures last night condemned ministers for a weak response to the growing crisis that particularly hits the elderly.

More than 1,200 communities have lost their sole bank and many places in the West have only one branch left.

MPs yesterday discussed the issue, urging the Government to take urgent action, including calling a bank summit to find solutions.

The Campaign for Community Banking Services (CCBS) has found 414 rural and 466 urban communities now rely on one bank, while a further 446 have only two.

The figures show 42 rural communities in the West have only one remaining branch, along with 37 urban areas, and the total of 79 is one of the highest in the country.

And 36 rural South West communities are down to their last two banks, and 17 urban areas, with the total of 53 the highest in the country. The analysis reveals how dependent vulnerable communities are on particular banks, because of their historical roots, such as Lloyds in the South West.

Derek French from the CCBS told the Daily Press there were no detailed local figures on bank closures, but it was known that more remote rural areas had done badly.

He accused the coalition of giving “tacit approval” to branch closures by the major banks.

The campaigners support the idea of cost-sharing community banks, which have been successful in the US for more than ten years, providing essential transactional services to all customers.

But Mr French said Treasury Minister Chloe Smith’s response in yesterday’s debate contained no sense of urgency and nothing new.

Although she said the shared branch alternative to closure was an interesting idea that deserved the banks’ attention, she was happy to leave it to the offenders – ignoring the fact they had failed to do anything in a decade.

Mr French said: “When will Government learn that without government intervention on this issue banks will continue to inflict damage in urban and rural communities throughout Britain?”

Coalition MP Roger Williams, who secured yesterday’s debate, said bank closures have a hugely damaging impact on rural communities.

The Liberal Democrat is fighting closures in his rural constituency in mid-Wales and accuses the major banks of forgetting their responsibilities to countryside communities.

Yesterday MPs said that while the major banks are promoting internet and telephone banking, very few people over 65 could use such facilities.

Ms Smith insisted though the Government was a majority shareholder in banks it had bailed out, it could not order shared banking pilots, as they were run at arm’s length.