Senior figures in the City of London and in politics – including the former Minister for the City Lord Myners – have questioned an apparent £1.2bn hole in the amount of money the government has raised from the bonus tax. The tax, known officially as the bank payroll tax, was imposed by the previous government on banks in the UK in an attempt to curb the payment of high bonuses last year.

The discrepancy between the total amount raised by the tax of £3.46bn, and what the Treasury described as the net amount raised of £2.3bn, is important because last week the Chancellor of the Exchequer used the lower figure to set a floor under the amount he proposes to raise from a new annual bank levy.