UK outlet The Canary suspends operations after second bank account blocked

Left-wing UK news website The Canary has suspended operations after it said Metro Bank blocked access to one of its accounts, leaving the outlet unable to pay some staff for August.

The publication said on Friday that Canary Media Limited had been unable to access money held in the account, but that Metro Bank had not given a reason for the restriction.

The development comes roughly two months after The Canary said Lloyds Bank closed its account without warning, leaving the outlet unable to pay staff and contractors and unable to access what it described as a substantial portion of its funds.

In a statement published on its website, The Canary said it had been left with "no responsible alternative but to suspend [its] operations with immediate effect".

"This is not a decision we have taken lightly, nor is it a decision caused by any failure of the Canary or its leadership,” the statement said. “It is the direct consequence of the debanking of the Canary’s funds, the resulting financial disruption, and the serious internal consequences that followed."

Metro Bank declined to comment when approached by The New Arab.

The outlet said it was still attempting to resolve its dispute with Lloyds, which it says closed its account after it had banked with the lender for nearly a decade. Lloyds did not provide a reason for the closure at the time either, according to The Canary.

The publication said the financial disruption forced it to cancel planned projects, delaye wage payments and briefly took its website offline when a direct debit could not be processed. It also said it paused pension payments to the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) in order to prioritise staff wages.

The crisis has also exposed internal tensions at the outlet. On Friday, The Guardian reported that some current and former staff feared The Canary would not survive beyond the end of the year, citing unpaid wages, delayed pension contributions and allegations of financial mismanagement. Staff members told the newspaper that more than £2 million in funding had been spent on projects including a short-lived newspaper and the acquisition of other websites.

A spokesperson for The Canary told The Guardian that payment difficulties had been "solely due to our ongoing debanking issues". Chief executive Steve Topple acknowledged that the organisation had made mistakes in its internal communications, but said Lloyds' closure of its account had caused severe financial and emotional strain for the company and its employees.

In its own statement, The Canary said the pressure created by the banking disruption had contributed to "serious internal misconduct by some staff" and significant disruption within the organisation. It said frustration had been directed at Topple but argued he was not responsible for the decision to close or block its accounts.

The outlet, known for its left-wing politics and pro-Palestine editorial stance, said it was suspending rather than ending operations, and appealed to readers and supporters for donations while it sought to rebuild on what it called a more stable footing.