Lost RBS billions likely to slip under the radar

Outlook

A last throw of the dice? Thursday sees the publication of an open letter to the Chancellor calling on him to suspend the privatisation of RBS, which by some estimates will leave the taxpayer with a £14bn loss, and consider alternatives.

It is signed by various economists, opposition MPs, and organisations ranging from Friends of the Earth to Move Your Money, and comes ahead of a parliamentary debate this afternoon.

Some imaginative ideas have been floated. Some might even be achievable.

It is increasingly hard to see a scenario in which the taxpayer doesn’t lose out on RBS. But if that loss were used constructively to address some of the ills in Britain’s banking market, an imaginative Chancellor might be able to characterise it as an investment.

Unfortunately, all the creativity and energy of the incumbent is being directed at finding a way to justify the cuts to working families’ tax credits he wants to push through. When set against the bitterness of that battle over billions, even the huge loss the taxpayer is set to take on the sale of RBS is, sadly, just a sideshow.