£27bn bill to save banks

resCUING the banks a decade ago cost taxpayers £27bn, estimates suggest.

the treasury kept the financial system afloat in 2008, forking out £136.6bn to buy shares in lenders or take responsibility for debts. It took over parts of Northern rock and Bradford & Bingley and pumped money into Lloyds and royal Bank of scotland, preventing a meltdown that could have destroyed Western capitalism.

although much has been recouped, the Office for Budget responsibility estimates taxpayers will have lost £27.3bn. the state has sold its holding in Lloyds, is now owed only £2.3bn from rescues at the rock and B&B, and has a 62.4pc stake in Natwest owner rBs.