As Unite national officer, Rob MacGregor says, the sale of RBS shares, at a loss of £2bn to the British taxpayer, is "a betrayal of public finances". It`s even worse than when George Osborne sold RBS shares to Tory friends in the City in 2015, which the National Audit Office calculated cost a mere £1.9bn!
Hammond`s sale begs obvious questions, not just about this government`s economic competence, but about its failure to pursue any policy which hints of morality. Notwithstanding its support for privatised banks, selling shares at 271 is bad enough, when closing price the night before was 280.9, but coming after healthy profits of £752m for 2017, and plans to close 162 branches, both signifiers to investors that share prices will rise soon, has to be seen as dubious, to say the least. As soon as the political situation in Italy calms down, shares on the stock market will rise.
What further evidence is required to show that this government has gifted the City another £2bn, some of which it will hope gets returned as Tory donations, and all of it belonging to the taxpayer!
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