Commenting on the announcement that the UK Government will own 57.9 per cent of the Royal Bank of Scotland, after shareholders didn’t take up the offer of new shares, Tavish Scott, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland said:

“The Government has, in effect, nationalised RBS. Many people across Scotland still won’t understand why what is good enough for RBS was not good enough for HBOS.

“We know that Lloyds TSB plans to save billions of pounds through the takeover. Thousands of banking jobs in Scotland will go.”