Osborne told to clean up RBS projects

CAMPAIGNERS are calling on Chancellor George Osborne to act to "clean up" the investments made by the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland.

Friends of the Earth Scotland said the bailed-out bank continued to invest money in companies with "questionable policies" which are "intent on dirty projects which damage the environment and threaten people's human rights".

It is calling on supporters to write to the Chancellor to demand action over how RBS invests.

The green group said RBS had been involved in providing loans worth nearly 5 billion in the last three years to companies carrying out highly controversial tar sands mining in Canada.

Campaigners say the extraction of oil from the world's huge fields of tar sands produces far more greenhouse gases than normal oil extraction, leaves large amounts of toxic waste and causes environmental damage.

FOE Scotland said: "We think the UK taxpayers have the right to demand that banks bailed out with our cash should behave ethically and responsibly. RBS's association with tar sands exploitation is unacceptable."