The Bradford & Bingley is to set up ballot boxes in its 600 branches to help members decide if it should become a bank.

The building society is going down the road of the Nationwide, which did the same thing when it narrowly defeated a conversion vote at last year's annual meeting.

The Electoral Reform Society - which looked after the Nationwide vote - is also handling the job for the B&B, overseeing the white plastic ballot boxes.

The ballot boxes are being made by Shipley firm H L Rim.

The company has won a £30,000 contract with the building society to make the boxes, which will be set up in the branches next week.

"Each box will be secured with chains and a padlock and only be handled by Electoral Reform Society staff," said the firm's managing director, Mike Smith, who started the Dockfield Road company ten years ago and now employs 33 staff.

The B&B has already sent out a financial summary to its members and is due to send a pack in time for the annual meeting scheduled for April 26.

It includes the case for staying a building society as laid down by the B&B's board and the resolution to turn it into a bank from rebel member Stephen Major of Northern Ireland.

The B&B's 3.5 million members will have the choice of posting their voting papers back to the Electoral Reform Society or putting it in a branch ballot box.

The building society's bid to stay as it is has been supported by Bradford West MP Marsha Singh, who was meeting with the B&B's chief executive Christopher Rodrigues.

"I am worried about the vote to turn the building society into a bank because if it goes ahead jobs could be lost and branches closed," he said.

"I feel very strongly about this and will be doing all I can to encourage a No vote.

"The B&B is a local asset and it would be a disaster if the carpetbaggers got their own way."

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