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A key priority for this government should be driving growth: from planning reform to a greater industrial strategy, and a thriving financial sector is an important part of that mission. But bank profits have been exceptionally high in recent years.

Interest rates have risen, yet the CMA has found that higher rates have not always been fully passed on to consumers. At the same time, taxpayers will cover around £18bn a year in Bank of England losses for the rest of this parliament, largely because of the way quantitative easing was implemented.

That’s why we’ve argued for a temporary, targeted levy on banks to help claw back some of those taxpayer losses. Crucially, there is precedent for this approach: Margaret Thatcher’s government introduced a 2.5% tax on bank deposits in 1981 after profits surged following higher interest rates.