Who are the winners and who are the losers from bail-out of Scottish banks?

Published on Thursday 16 October 2008 21:34

Correspondents such as Robert Henderson (Letters, 16 October) who complain about English cash bailing out Scottish banks should realise that, apart from the fact it was the Halifax end of the business that brought down HBOS, Scotland is subsidising the UK Treasury by some £4.5 billion this year. Also, 90 per cent of the business of HBOS and RBS, and most of the jobs and customers, are based outside Scotland.

That said, I welcome The Scotsman's campaign to save Bank of Scotland as a separate entity and Gordon Brown must confirm that taxpayers' money will still be available if HBOS shareholders vote no to the very poor LLoyds/TSB offer, which does nothing for HBOS staff and shareholders and will reduce service and choice for all bank customers.

JANICE THOMPSON

Walter Scott Avenue

Edinburgh

Robert Henderson complains that "Scotland does not fund all its own public expenditure". I have news for him. London does not fund all its own public expenditure. The nature of a United Kingdom is that all of its parts are subsidised from a communal pot, to which all contribute, and no part of it stands alone. London benefits more than anywhere else from this arrangement and, as the capital of the UK, has been gifted with all the extra public and private-sector jobs this attracts, extensive internal, nationwide and international transport links and full funding for the next Olympics.

ALLAN JOHNSTON

Dudley Terrace

Edinburgh

If RBS and HBOS are Scottish banks and your average man on the street in Edinburgh is furious at losing "oor banks" to the English, can I respectfully suggest Scotland bails its own banks out?

It seems that when Scottish banks fail, the English end up paying to bail them out. It started with Darien and now the lion's share of the 37 billion has gone to two Scottish banks.

We pay for your free prescriptions, your cancer treatments, and your free school meals and we pay to care for your elderly when they can't look after themselves – all the things we supposedly can't afford for ourselves. And what do we get in return? Anti-English bile and insulting, spurious claims that the Scottish oil industry, which English taxes paid for, even comes close to plugging the funding gap north of the Border.

If you want Scottish banks to remain Scottish then bail them out yourselves. If you don't like the idea of relying on English money all the time, don't take it. It's not rocket science.

STUART PARR

Briarwood

Telford, Shropshire

I wonder if the proposed HBOS and Lloyds TSB merger is as bad as your columns imply. Most savers have suffered as a result of the current financial instability, and in many instances I reckon the investment advice came from the HBOS. Only last year there were claims of billions of pounds in profits, with grotesque handouts to senior staff and all seemed so upbeat. Either these profits were not as touted or a great deal of money has been squandered in a very short space of time.

If, as you report (15 October), this merger will probably save up 3 billion then is this not a good move? It will save taxpayers' money and introduce a much more efficient banking system. The arguments for banks operating in a "free market" environment have vanished; the government will soon be the largest stakeholder in the UK, so let's move with the times and accept that we have too many inefficient banks.

JIMMY WILSON

John Street

Dalbeattie, Galloway