TUC: Levy will be met with champagne in City

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber reacted to the bank levy increase:

“This levy is pathetically small compared to the amount UK taxpayers are owed for the financial crash and barely covers the cost of the corporation tax cut the chancellor is giving the banks.

“Begging bankers to shell out small change from their bonus pool falls well short of the action needed to reform our finance sector so that it can start to serve the wider economy again, rather than the other way round.

“Rather than set alarm bells ringing in the City, this levy will be met with the sound of clinking champagne glasses.”