The cap was imposed in 2014 in the wake of the 2008 global financial crash. It was associated with incentivising bankers to take outsized risks.

Are we going down the same road again, we had years of austerity after 2008, not one banker was prosecuted even though it cost the us the tax payer billions to bail the banks out.

At a time when millions up and down the country are struggling to make ends meet is this an insult to working people ?

Whether or not the bonus cap was an effective policy measure, can we rely on the outsized incomes of a handful of super-rich bankers trickling down to lift slumping living standards for the wider population ?

It has been argued that lifting the limit will help London to compete with other global financial hubs such as New York, Paris and Frankfurt

Can't disagree with any of the above, but the income tax which should be paid on the bonus will be more than the corporation tax paid on the higher bank profits, if the bonus hadn't been paid

Investment bankers.......well it rhymes with bankers.

You won't get much criticism of the decision to pay them more from the people on here who keep preaching if you want quality you have to pay for it.
Or will they change tack and criticise the decision.
If Raj decided to pay top dollar for players or decide a playing budget bigger than any other team in the league would any of us criticise him.
Mind you God help those well paid players/coaching staff if they don't live up to expectations.
But when it's the board of big banking customers giving out big incentives it's decidedly criminal, even thought the taxman, on our behalf, would get nigh on the lion's share of it.
Standards eh!

As long as they are held accountable when it hits the fan similar to nurses, police, teachers etc. are.

you can never beat the system but can use it until the system changes. do not hold your breath for the system to change even with a change of government.

They will employ decent accountants so they only pay minimal tax.

NatWest sparked fury today after revealing former boss Dame Alison Rose is set to receive a £2.4million pay package, a month after resigning in disgrace in a row over Nigel Farage's bank account.
Sacked but gets compensation, what other employee in any position in any job would be compensated for being sacked. On Sky todays Press Preview Kevin Maguire said it was ONLY a one off payment for this month, she won’t get one next month, ffs will she need another !

We were threatened in 2014 that the cap on bonuses would see a massive shift of bankers overseas and the end of London as a financial hub. Did that happen? I'm not in the banking industry so don't really know.

If it didn't happen 9 years ago when the cap was imposed why do people think it will suddenly happen now if the cap isn't removed (note they can't just pop over to work in any EU banking hubs as their cap still exists)?

With regards to the income tax that would be paid if these bonuses were re-instated, I would suggest that the banking industry are probably the best placed to "avoid" paying those taxes (note avoid not evade) by landing those bonuses in a tax-limiting scheme.

Quite obvious really, the Government need the economy to grow quickly to have any chance at the next GE. They can't be seen to make moves directly to encourage growth by taking risks, but if they remove the shackles from bankers then they will get risk takers chasing bigger returns for personal bigger bonuses. And although it might work short term to help the Tories, when it goes tits up and there's another economic crash the government will say it's not our fault it's those f*cking banker's again.