In his third Budget speech, Darling claimed that the government was right when it opted to bail out the troubled UK banks.

He said that those institutions that received state-support are starting to turn things around and confirmed that the treasury has already received some £8 billion from them.

It was also confirmed that the 50 per cent tax on bank bonuses, announced in the pre-budget report last year, has raised more than £2 billion so far which, according to Chancellor Darling, is more than was expected.