Banks can’t splash the public’s cash

Lots of people are mocking the Tories for being concerned about bankers’ salaries; Simon Hoggart ribs Cameron for sounding like a Trot at PMQs yesterday. But the Tory position is actually entirely reasonable. As long as these banks were getting by without state aid it was up to them and their shareholders how much they paid their executives. But now that they are going to be taking public money, we as taxpayers have a legitimate interest in these decisions – a point made in the latest issue’s leader.

It would be a sensible step if the government were to declare that a condition of any bank receiving public money would be that it does not offer a total compensation package to its employees worth more than the salary of the Prime Minister, £189,994. This is hardly going to put anyone on the bread line but it would show that there are genuine conditions to this bail-out.