MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bailing out UK banks has cost each British family £ 4.350 claim Tories

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne made the claim before the House of Commons

The British government’s plan to pump a further £25.5 billion of taxpayers’ money into Royal Bank of Scotland means the cost of the banking bailout has reached £4,350 for every family in the UK.

The Conservatives have claimed the extra bailout cash will cost £2,000 for every one of the 17 million families in the country.

According to shadow chancellor George Osborne, the £2,000 per family covers the cost of the £ 25.5 billion the government has given to RBS plus a further £8 billion it has earmarked for the bank should its tier one capital fall below 5%.

According to Tory calculations, every household already shoulders a £2,350 bailout burden as the result of the £74 billion the government has already ploughed into RBS, Lloyds and HBOS since last year. Yesterday’s news takes that burden to £4,350.

Speaking at the House of Commons Osborne accused Labour of not even being prepared to put the full cost of the bailout - £39.2 billion – before the Commons.