Government sells £2.1bn of RBS shares

The sale will take the taxpayer shareholding from 79% to 73%.

However George Osborne has come under fire for selling the shares at well below the average 502p paid when the bank was bailed out during the financial crisis. Taxpayers are estimated to have lost a total of £1,084m on the sale.

George Osborne said:

"I can confirm this morning that we have sold 5.4% of the Royal Bank of Scotland, raising £2.1 billion which will be used to pay down the national debt.

"This is an important first step in returning the bank to private ownership, which is the right thing to do for the taxpayer and for British businesses: it will promote financial stability, lead to a more competitive banking sector, and support the interests of the wider economy.

"Now is the time for RBS to rebuild itself as a commercial bank, no longer reliant on the state, but serving the working people of Britain.

"I wasn’t the Chancellor who bailed out RBS; but I am the Chancellor now responsible for doing the right thing for the British economy. So while the easiest thing to do would be to duck the difficult decisions and leave RBS in state hands; the right thing to do for the economy and for taxpayers is to start selling off our stake. So today that’s what we’re doing."