"Banker and bonus bashing" by leaders of all three main political parties is undermining British business and harming the nation's image abroad, senior Labour figures have warned.

Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester today broke his silence after waiving a near-£1 million bonus by urging the bank's staff to "prove critics wrong".

In a time when nobody is ever held personally responsible for anything, and all we have to do after any disaster is "make sure that the lessons are learnt", the word "scapegoat" has undergone a change.

Inside Westminster

Mark Zuckerberg is about to join the 1 per cent. No, not that 1 per cent, not the one that Occupy folk have been waving their placards at.

Ed Miliband warned bankers today they must wave goodbye to their culture of "excessive" bonuses and reconnect with the rest of the country.

Disgraced peers could be expelled from the House of Lords for mis-conduct under government plans for an elected second chamber, to be proposed by Nick Clegg.

A leading union today welcomed the decision to strip former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin of his knighthood.

Ex-banker Fred Goodwin has had his knighthood removed, it was announced today.

Nick Clegg has said he is "sympathetic" to calls for former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has thrown his weight behind calls for former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood.

An MP leading calls for Sir Fred Goodwin to be stripped of his knighthood urged the Whitehall committee which reviews honours to make a special case of the disgraced former banker today.

Lib Dem MP John Hemming tells Nina Lakhani why transparency is an issue worth fighting for