Sharon Bowles MEP (South East of England), Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, has called for a new system to calculate bankers' bonuses.

Speaking in light of the ongoing row over RBS bonuses, Ms Bowles said:

"We have to end the current situation in which bankers are making massive bonuses on the basis of low interest rates rather than high skill.

"Instead of rewarding bankers for easy profits based on cheap lending, they should instead be rewarded for real achievements.

"That means bonuses should be linked to the cost of capital. No banker should take home a bonus worth more than half of what it costs to raise a loan.

"Many British banks are now owned by the tax-payer, and they should not be funding big bonuses on the basis of precious little."