Nick Clegg said a healthy banking system was needed to aid the economic recovery Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has urged banks to be “sensitive to the public mood”, as details of multi-million pound bonuses are revealed.
Among the payments, the boss of state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland is reportedly in line for up to £2.5m.
Mr Clegg told the BBC he understood public “anger”, but restoring lending to people and firms was the priority.
Labour has called on ministers to “take action”, but the coalition said it could not “micromanage” banks.
Mr Clegg’s comments come as Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays, is set to face the Commons Treasury select committee, where he is expected to be questioned about a reported annual bonus of £8m.
The total annual payments meted out to bank staff this year are expected to reach £7bn, down from £7.3bn last year.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has asked the government to extend last year’s one-off bonus tax, which he said had raised £3.5bn.
But the coalition said its own, permanent, bank levy would bring in more revenue in the long term and help prevent tax avoidance by leading executives.
Mr Clegg told the BBC: “I totally understand the frustration, if not anger, of people who work hard, pay their taxes and play by the rules.
“People in what I call ‘alarm clock Britain’ are really trying to do well by themselves and their families and just see these sky-high bonuses announced or pre-announced by banks.”
Several banks, including RBS and Lloyds TSB, were bailed out by the government in the wake of the financial crisis, adding to criticism over the payment of bonuses to their leading executives.
The decreased availability of loans for businesses and homebuyers has also caused anger.
But Mr Clegg said: “We’ve got to acknowledge that we need a healthy banking system for a healthy economy.
“We’ve also got to acknowledge that this government’s done a whole lot of things. We’ve imposed a levy on the banks which will raise much more money than Labour’s one-off bonus bank tax ever did.
“Of course we’ve got to put pressure on those people who run state-owned banks… to be sensitive to the public mood.
“We’ve also got to get the banks to lend more money. That’s the most important thing of all to businesses, to first-time borrowers. That’s what will get the wheels of the economy going.”
It is reported that Stephen Hester, chief executive of RBS, which is 84% taxpayer-owned, is in line to receive a £2.5m payment.
At his monthly press conference on Monday Mr Miliband said: “They should not get the scale of bonuses that is being talked about.”
He said Labour’s one-off bonus tax measure – which has now expired – had raised £3.5bn in a year, while its Conservative-Liberal Democrat replacement levy would make just £1.25bn.
The Conservatives disputed Mr Miliband’s figures, saying the Treasury had found the bonus tax had raised just £2.3bn and that the coalition’s levy would gather £2.6bn a year by the end of this parliament.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.