Boris Johnson hits out at bank tax

Boris Johnson has attacked the government’s plans to tax bank bonuses and warned it risked damaging London’s competitiveness.

In a letter to chancellor Alistair Darling, the London mayor argued that the move to tax bonuses over £25,000 at 50%, along with the raising of the top rate of income tax to 50%, was “ill-judged”.

“You have made unilateral changes to taxation the risk damaging London’s competitiveness and its status, alongside New York, as the world’s leading financial services centre,” he wrote.

The Telegraph reported that he has requested an urgent meeting with Darling to discuss “the damage done to perceptions of London as a global financial centre”.