Bank bonuses. Again.

There’s been an awful lot of knee-jerk reactions to the hot topic of ‘bankers bonuses’ over the last few months.

Whilst some of the bonuses seem excessive – particularly for senior personnel who took their bank to the brink of collapse – slashing bonuses for thousands of staff who have earned them fair and square does seem a little bit harsh.

And, thank heavens that someone understands this situation and can bring something of a level head and some common sense to this argument.  That person, of course, is the Mayor himself.

In a letter to Alistair Darling, Boris has asked for an urgent meeting to discuss how to reverse “the damage done to perceptions of London as a global financial centre” by the Chancellor’s introduction of a 50p income tax rate for top earners and a temporary 50% levy on banking bonuses over £25,000.

Bozza told Darling that “I believe that the Government’s current policy towards financial services is ill-judged. You have made unilateral changes to taxation that risk damaging London’s competitiveness and its status, alongside New York, as the world’s leading financial services centre.”

Boris also points out the pertinent statistic that the financial services sector provides around 8% of UK output and one in every seven pounds collected in tax. With thousands of staff at many major companies requesting relocation out of London these moves could significantly damage London’s reputation as the world’s leading financial services centre as well as actually reducing taxation income.

Perhaps, rather than jumping on the over-reactive Daily Mail bandwagon we should sit down and make some more rational decisions on this topic? It’s a blessed relief that at least someone can see the very sensible counter-argument to all this  ‘banker-bashing’.