John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor responding to the reports today that the UK’s 4 biggest banks are about to payout £5bn in bonuses, said:

“If true, this will feel like a smack in the face to those consumers and taxpayers who bailed out the banks but have still not seen any rewards while bankers continue to be rewarded for failure.

"In the last parliament, George Osborne rewarded that failure by failing to repeat Labour’s bankers’ bonus tax, cutting corporation tax and the top rate of 50p; and he’s rewarded it further last summer by cutting the Bank Levy at the request of many of these same banks, and right now he’s carrying on by weakening regulations for senior bankers in parliament.

"It’s the continuation of these eye-watering bonuses alongside a return to a light touch approach which further shows that during George Osborne’s time at the Treasury he has simply been the bankers’ Chancellor.

"There’s now a growing worry that it looks like the banks are returning to their bad habits from before the crisis and the Tories don’t seem to have learnt a thing.”