Bailed out banks shouldn't whinge about tighter controls says Cable

"This is not the time for banks to be complaining about tighter regulatory controls, it is the time for them to be lending to good British businesses," said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor.

Commenting on a leaked report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers on behalf of major banks warning that the impact of measures to tighten regulation of the banking sector risks a double-dip recession, Vince Cable said:

"Given the scale of the bailout the financial sector has received from the taxpayer, this kind of scaremongering from the City is simply whingeing.

"Most UK banks are now holding capital far in excess of regulatory requirements and continue to pay out huge bonuses while starving solid small and medium size businesses of credit. Banks need to understand that they cannot go back to business as usual.

"This is not the time for banks to be complaining about tighter regulatory controls, it is the time for them to be lending to good British businesses to safeguard the recovery and safeguard people's jobs."