FAILURE induces many feelings in those who are responsible, from reflection and regret to embarrassment. For the people who run Britain's banks, however, greed seems to be the defining emotion.
The few executive directors of Halifax Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland, who will pocket more than £120m in pay and bonuses, according to one trade union's estimate, have shown a startling arrogance despite all three institutio
ns having to be propped up by the taxpayer.
At part-nationalised Bradford & Bingley, whose sober image once made
it the embodiment of Yorkshire people's prudence and restraint,
the chief executive, Richard Pym, will take a pay and bonus package
of more than £1m despite being brought in with the very purpose of finding a buyer for the struggling lender.
For banking executives to behave like this is appalling when many of their staff, particularly those in Yorkshire, face an unhappy Christmas spent worrying whether they will still have a job next year.
That bankers have continued to draw such pay will only add to the feeling among ordinary people that finance executives have been living in another world.
The majority of Britain's workers, who don't earn seven-figure salaries, have suffered their toughest year in more than a decade. Even though inflation fell to 4.5 per cent last month, the prices of basic commodities, such as food, are higher than they were 12 months ago.
Britons are having to tighten their purse strings and so must Government. David Cameron has finally realised this by promising to ditch Labour's spending plans for 2010-11. Having tuned into the country's new mood of austerity, he could do no better than ensure bankers are on the same wavelength.
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