Labour leader Ed Miliband called on City bosses to show pay restraint as he launched his vision of ‘One Nation Banking’ this morning.
He used a speech in Canary Wharf to attack excessive remuneration in the financial sector, announce that his party will seek a parliamentary vote for a new tax on bankers’ bonuses and call for a public register of those earning over £1m per year.
He singled out investment banks for criticism, saying that while the word banker used to be “a compliment to suggest solidity and reassurance” the influence of large funds mean it has now “morphed into something else”.
At the event he told City A.M. that investment banking still has “an important role to play in society” but that “part of the challenge for the banking sector is to recognise that it is a sector that serves the rest of the economy”.
“The investment banking sector is important but it’s not immune to corporate responsibility.”
In the speech Miliband added: “People who did not cause the financial crisis are paying the price” and set out a plan for ‘One Nation Banking’ where finance will serve “the real economy” and “in a way that people believe are consistent with their values”.
He praised the decision of RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton to turn down his bonus and called on others to follow suit.
Labour sees scope to extract political points from bankers' unpopularity with the public. The party is neck-and-neck in the polls with the Conservatives, even though the economy is shrinking, unemployment is rising and budget cuts are hurting. The next election is due in 2015.
