How much longer must the banks stay in the sin bin? It is now 13 years since RBS and Lloyds were bailed out by the taxpayer at the height of the financial crisis. Yet they still haven’t been forgiven.

The Chancellor has at least reduced the surcharge on bank profits introduced after the financial crisis. But in the Budget it was cut only from 8% to 3%, so combined with the already announced increase in general corporation tax from 19% to 25%, the total rate banks pay will still increase by one percentage point to 28%.