Banks criticise plans for windfall tax on bonuses

A scheme could be unveiled in Alistair Darling's pre-Budget report this week.

But BBC business editor Robert Peston said taxing bankers might raise no more revenues than a "few hundred million pounds expected by the Treasury".

Angela Knight from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) called such taxes "populist, political and penal".

She said such windfall taxes on bonuses would send the wrong message to the rest of the world about the UK's position as a banking centre.

"We have already seen quite a few companies shift out of the UK," the BBA's chief executive told the BBC.

"It might be popular to put very high taxes on a few [bankers], but we need to know how we would look internationally."

She added that one million jobs in the UK were supported by the banking industry.