A £963,000 bonus in shares has been awarded to RBS boss Stephen Hester who is now coming under strong criticism for accepting the bonus.

Lib Dem minister Jeremy Browne commented on Mr Hester saying he is "a public servant" and should turn down the bonus.

The Unite union commented saying that it was "disgusting" that the bonus has been accepted.

Labour said the UK government pledges to curb executive pay were "utterly worthless".

The bank is 82% owned by UK Taxpayers after being one of the banks included in the Government bailout.

UK Financial Investments said the bonus, which is on top of Mr Hester's £1.2m salary, "reflects the significant contribution he has made towards rebuilding RBS in 2011" they went on to further try and justify the bonus".

The shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, told the BBC that he would not have paid Mr Hester any bonus:
"Ministers have said that shareholders should play a more active role in reining in excess where they see it."
"This is in the main a publicly owned institution, and the Prime Minister has failed to do so. People listening to this programme will be flabbergasted that nothing has been done about this".

For the past two years, part-nationalised RBS and Lloyds Banking Group have paid no cash bonuses of more than £2,000.

RBS has announced thousands of job cuts, although it recorded a £2bn profit in its most recent trading period, compared with a £1.6bn loss in the same period in 2010.

David Fleming, the Unite union national officer, said: "How can a Royal Bank of Scotland senior banker who is responsible for sacking over 21,000 workers be rewarded in this way?", while the Trades Union Congress described it as "utterly unacceptable".

The RMT's General Secretary Bob Crow said: "The Royal Bank of Scotland is owned by the country. To give someone £1m and then to give them a massive bonus on top, while public sector workers get a pay freeze and their pension contributions go up, I have got to say that is a complete disgrace".

Friday January 27^th 2012
The Onlines