Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of maintaining majority ownership of Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Government believes that, as a matter of principle, firms best succeed under private ownership. Returning RBS to the private sector is the right policy for taxpayers, customers, and the wider economy.

The Government intervened in RBS to maintain stability at the height of the financial crisis. RBS was never a speculative investment made to generate a profit, and it is right that private investors, not taxpayers, should bear the risk of companies such as RBS.

The Government’s policy remains to return the financial sector assets acquired during the crisis to private ownership, when it represents value for money to do so, and market conditions allow.