Adam Posen, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, has matched the governor's firm stance on breaking up Britain's biggest banks.

Posen told the Sunday Times, a newspaper: "There may be a case for limiting bank size, full stop."

He added: "There's no reason we shouldn't be able to say, if we decide: ‘Sorry, super big banks don't make any sense - the costs are too great'. You don't necessarily return the banks in government hands to the private sector [two of Britain's