Banks respond to Treasury demands on interest rates

Britain's banks finally responded to growing public and political pressure yesterday to pass on to their customers the full 1.5 percentage point cut in interest rates. After an early morning meeting with the chancellor, Alistair Darling, the UK's biggest lenders yesterday came out one by one and flipped him the bird before running off down Whitehall. By mid afternoon each of the banks that had sought help from the government's £37bn bail-out had mooned in the direction of the Chancellor and invited the Treasury to kiss their lily-white arses. Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcomed the move.

Taxpayer handed control of bank, hopes to start Monday

Taxpayer Phil Reeves says he is perplexed after he was yesterday handed control of one of Britain's biggest banks. The builder and decorator, who lives in Hornsey, says the news came out of the blue. "I just got a call from some guy at the Treasury, who said 'We've got a problem with HBOS, can you start next week?' " Reeves, 37, hopes to get the job started on Monday. "I've got a little job going in Crouch End which should finish this week, and I'll pop over to the bank Friday afternoon to have a look at it. I'm going to take my mate Mike with me - he's a plasterer really but he does all my money things for me, invoices and everything. We'll start work first thing Monday morning, Tuesday at the latest." The FTSE 100 rose sharply at the news before falling back.