THE taxpayer is £1 billion poorer today following George Osborne’s giveaway of shares in RBS — a bank bailed out with our money.

Public cash was used to buy shares at 502p each when the bank was bailed out amid the global crisis of capitalism in 2008.

But rich investors snapped up shares at just 330p yesterday morning as the Tory Chancellor began his latest knockdown privatisation of public assets — part of Mr Osborne’s plan to flog a whopping £32bn worth of public assets this year, breaking Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation record.

The sell-off of the government’s 78 per cent stake in RBS was started despite the share price hitting its lowest for a year.
Shares in RBS were worth 400p only six months ago.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennet said the timing of the sale raised questions about the “cosy relationship” between the Treasury and the banks.

“The fact that over £2bn of shares were sold at a discount to City institutions reveals where the Chancellor’s priorities lie: with bankers’ profits, rather than getting the best deal for the public,” she said.

“The billion-pound loss we are likely to see on this sale allows Osborne to continue to plead poverty and inflict more spending cuts on those least able to afford them, while the bankers walk away with a tidy profit.

“It is high time the ties between government and the banking lobby were severed.”

Shadow chancellor Chris Leslie, who supports an eventual sell-off, said the public had lost out from the “rushed” and “discount” sale.

Labour leadership front-runner Jeremy Corbyn said the bank should be kept in public hands and used to invest in infrastructure and manufacturing.

“I don’t want a maximum return, I want the maximum benefit for the entire economy,” he said.

Banking giants Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS oversaw the sale across Monday night and yesterday morning.

And Britain woke up yesterday to find the Chancellor had flogged £2.1bn worth of shares at a £1.08bn loss.

That saw the public share in RBS cut from 78 per cent to 72 per cent, with another sale likely in 90 days’ time.

Notorious financial fixer Rothschilds, which is advising the government, estimates losses could reach £15bn if all the shares are sold at the current price.

Mr Osborne refused to face questions from the media over the sell-off yesterday, dispatching junior minister Harriett Baldwin.

But he did issue a statement, saying: “While the easiest thing to do would be to duck the difficult decisions and leave RBS in state hands; the right thing to do for the economy and for taxpayers is to start selling off our stake.”

However Campaign for Public Ownership director Neil Clarke said the sell-off was the kind of action forced upon crisis-hit countries like Greece. He told the Star: “Osborne says we’re not in a Greece situation because the Tories have sorted out the public finances. And yet we’re doing the same things they have to do.”