John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor responding to the reports today that HSBC is remaining in the UK and the comments by Sir John Vickers about the vulnerability of UK banks, said:

“It is welcome news to those HSBC staff who were concerned about their jobs. However, the bank’s senior management has to now also reassure those taxpayers who would have read that the bank is not paying a significant amount in corporation tax in the UK, while successfully lobbying the Chancellor to cut the Bank Levy.

"Senior bankers at HSBC can’t have it both ways. Doing business in the UK comes with certain responsibilities and not a blank cheque when it comes to rights and regulations.

"We have seen on numerous occasions such as on the Bank Levy that the Chancellor is happy to take his orders from the banks. But we simply we can’t afford this light touch approach to the financial sector at such a sensitive time in the global economy, as it could be seen as a green light for a return to 2008.

"And on a day when Sir John Vickers is warning that many of the reforms he proposed to prevent another banking crisis have been watered-down, it does seem whatever the banks want under George Osborne, they tend to get from the bankers’ Chancellor.”