Commenting on the UK Government's new plan to encourage banks to resume lending, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland Tavish Scott MSP said:

“Monumentally poor judgements by senior bank executives are now causing real hardship for Scottish businesses. High Streets across Scotland will not only lose direct banking jobs but also be hit when other businesses scale back because of the way they are being treated by their banks.

“Just last week I met a business in Kelso that is finding new hurdles and high jumps put in the way of its finances.

“We should be angry that so much taxpayers’ money has been given to the banks with so little to show for it.

“A better option would have been to take full control of one or more banks to guarantee lending continues to sound small and medium business across Scotland.

“Otherwise what are we the taxpayer getting?”