George Osborne spends £43,000 of taxpayers’ money defending bankers’ bonuses

The chancellor George Osborne has spent over £43,000 of taxpayers' money defending bankers' bonuses, according to new figures.

The bonus cap restricts bankers’ bonuses to 100 per cent of their pay, or 200 per cent with shareholder approval

The chancellor George Osborne has spent over £43,000 of taxpayers’ money defending bankers’ bonuses, according to new figures.

A response from the Treasury to a Freedom of Information request by Labour shadow financial secretary to the Treasury Cathy Jamieson has revealed that the total cost of external legal fees relating to the legal challenge to the bankers’ bonus cap and connected advice is £43,064.

But the true cost to the taxpayer is likely to be even higher as the figures are only for the external legal costs of the challenge and do not include the cost of civil servants who worked on the case.

The bonus cap restricts bankers’ bonuses to 100 per cent of their pay, or 200 per cent with shareholder approval.

George Osborne lodged a legal challenge with the European Court of Justice on the bonus cap in September 2013 but the move was abandoned in November 2014 when Osborne said it was “unlikely to succeed”.

Commenting on the news, Cathy Jamieson MP said:

“While working families face a cost-of-living crisis, it is astounding that George Osborne chose to waste taxpayers’ money fighting a bank bonus cap.

“His decision revealed his true priorities and showed just how out of touch he is.

“It shouldn’t have taken the EU to act to rein in excessive bonuses, but George Osborne has totally failed to act here in Britain.

“Labour will reform the banks and levy a tax on bank bonuses to fund a paid starter job for young people out of work for over a year.”

19 Responses to “George Osborne spends £43,000 of taxpayers’ money defending bankers’ bonuses”

  1. cjcjc

    Tax on bonuses 45%
    Tax on profits 21%
    Down with bonuses!

  2. Gary Scott

    Money well spent. The taxpayers take all the risks and bail out the banks, the bankers get the rewards when the good times roll and golden handshakes when they don’t. Socialise risk, privatise profit! How selfless of George

  3. swat

    At £1000 an hour these top lawyers charge, its about 5 days work in all. Cheap at the price.
    But there is no defence for those bankers with their noses in the trough, as Osborne had to admit. So it should come out of his pocket. The man is an oik.

  4. CGR

    Anything that keeps the City at the top of the global financial system is to be welcomed.

    Just think about how taxes would have to go up for everyone if the City of London lost its pre-eminence and its tax receipts it earned fell !!!

  5. blarg1987

    The city itself has recieved a large volume of subsidies from the taxpayer via low interest loans from the bank of England for well over the last decade, this has been a main contributor to its “success”.

    If such a function was removed then overall taxes probably would not change or it would be very small difference over the money the exchequer gets in revenue vs the amount we pay out in subsidies to the city.

Comments are closed.