Tom Porter-Brown, Leicester Socialist Party
An example of the country’s enormous wealth gap is the mega-profits of the banking industry. The top four British banks generated a combined total of £29 billion of profits in just the first half of 2026.
Andy Burnham may use the upcoming October Budget to try to garner some support by implementing a mild tax increase on the banks, but any measure he takes will be confined to his ‘fiscal rules’ (the same as his predecessor Keir Starmer). And the banks themselves are arguing that increased bank taxes would “risk making the UK uncompetitive” and therefore driving out foreign investors.
But what investment?! Our public services have seen nothing but cuts and austerity for sixteen years: healthcare, transportation, education, housing. If that £29 billion was taken from the banks it could be used to reverse cuts to public services and then expand them!
The TUC (Trades Union Congress) is arguing for an increase on taxes for the banks, with its general secretary Paul Nowak stating: “It’s common sense and the right thing to do”. But winning the funding for our services, infrastructure and futures, will take more than a moral compass and steeper taxes on the banks.
The bank bosses are right that anything resembling a wealth tax could drive foreign investors out of the country, but that’s why the wealth generated by those banks needs to be nationalised and owned democratically by the working class.
The working class needs to be mobilised and armed with a political programme that prioritises their needs over the bosses, which also includes the workers in the banks themselves, who could be won over to a socialist programme if the unions fight for it.
