Chancellor welcomes RBS boss’ bonus decision

CHANCELLOR George Osborne is among those who have welcomed the boss of Royal Bank of Scotland’s decision to waive his controversial £1 million bonus.

Stephen Hester has decided to forgo the £3.6 million shares package, worth £963,000, which he was awarded last week.

The bonus has proved embarrassing for the government, with Labour pointing to David Cameron’s pledges to clamp down on executive pay and Tory Mayor of London Boris Johnson claiming it was “absolutely bewildering” that a state-backed bank should pay out so much.

Chancellor George Osborne said: “This is a sensible and welcome decision that enables Stephen Hester to focus on the very important job he has got to do, namely to get back billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money that was put into RBS.”

Labour had planned to force a Commons vote calling for Mr Hester to be stripped of his bonus and claiming the Prime Minister’s “failure of leadership” could not be allowed to stand.

Party leader Ed Miliband said Mr Hester “has done the right thing”, while First Minister Alex Salmond said the move was a “welcome development”.

Mr Hester is still expected to be entitled to another shares bonus that could potentially reach £6.4 million based on a long term incentive scheme that is approaching the point at which it can come into effect.