Prime Minister's question asked in the House of Commons, by Ronnie Campbell (Labour). It was answered on Wednesday, 2 June 2010 on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Engagements

Question: Now that the bank—some of them, anyway—are coming into profit, and the taxpayers are getting a small return on the enormous amount of money that they put in, when does the Prime Minister envisage selling the shares off to his friends in the City?

Answer: I would much rather sell the shares in the banks to the hon. Gentleman's constituents. I believe in popular capitalism, and there might be an opportunity to do that. Clearly, important decisions will have to be made to ensure that we get the maximum amount of money back for the taxpayer, who has had to put so much money into the banks, and that we have a fully competitive banking system that serves business in this country so that it does not get ripped off by the banks. At the same time, privatising those banks back into the private sector where they belong can help encourage popular capitalism once again.

Secondary information