Called to account

You have previously published my letters on the unfairness of the huge taxpayer subsidies required for the generous pensions of public sector workers.

My concern also extends to the pension terms afforded to the very many directors and senior executives of Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and the other failed banks that were bailed out by the beleaguered taxpayer.

Fault in this does not lie solely with these bankers themselves who can claim legitimately, though not morally, that they were only taking what they were entitled to.

John Birkett (Letters, 15 April) asks excellent questions about the role of the then Labour ­ministers in this.

The person primarily responsible for allowing the worst of the great post-bailout pension bonanza was Lord Myners, the then financial services secretary (aka the “City minister”). This man was steeped in the culture of banking: he was chief executive of Gartmore Group and a director of NatWest. He was well aware (or certainly ought to have been) of the ridiculously generous remuneration and pension terms of bankers.

He should have stood up to them, addressed his responsibilities to the taxpayers and ­dismissed most of the bankers in question on minimal pensions.

What Lord Myners did instead was to abrogate these ­responsibilities and leave matters to kindred spirits on the boards of the banks who,
funnily enough, dispensed taxpayers’ largesse to themselves without batting an eyelid.

While we are still picking up the bill for his failings, Lord Myners continues unabated his career in financial service organisations. I, for one, would like to see him called to account and, at least, apologise for his failures.

David K Allan

Haddington, East Lothian