Spending Review: Labour's regulation of banks 'appalling'

George Osborne today criticised the regulation of banks under Labour and outlined plans to introduce a permanent annual levy.

Describing how the industry was "appallingly regulated" over the last decade, he underlined the coalition government's intention to ensure remuneration is adequately taxed. He said: "We neither want to let off banks from making their contribution nor drive them abroad. "Our aim will be to extract the maximum sustainable tax revenues from financial services. We will assess what those maximum revenues could be, not just in one year but over a period of years. "We have already decided, in the face of opposition from the previous government, to introduce a permanent levy on banks." ...