Chancellor under fire over decision to sell bank stake

The Government’s claim that the sale of its majority stake in the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland will not see the taxpayer lose out is like boasting about the great deal you got on your car having lost money on your house, Labour has said.

Shadow chancellor Chris Leslie told MPs the Treasury could not pretend it was not making a loss on RBS because it was making a gain on completely separate assets.

He also demanded to know why the Chancellor was not present in the Commons to deliver the statement himself after announcing a series of policies in his Mansion House speech on Wednesday night.

Mr Leslie asked: “Shouldn’t he have the courtesy to come to the House of Commons and answer questions for himself on what might well be one of the most important financial decisions of this parliament?

“Taxpayers deserve to know more about what’s going on here and why is it that when there are difficult questions, the Chancellor always blames someone else or sends someone else?”

Treasury minister Harriett Baldwin was given the responsibility for delivering the statement in the Commons.