In bed with the banks: #TaxTheBanks action

This morning we ran our latest action to #TaxTheBanks, grabbing coverage in the i paper and The Guardian’s live feed. 

A windfall tax on big bank profits could bring in over £11 billion but it seems Rachel Reeves is too comfortable cosying up in bed with the big banks to get up and introduce it in her Autumn Budget later this year. 

We headed to the Bank of England, ahead of their latest interest rate decision, because it’s years of higher rates that have caused our rent, mortgage, and debt payments to rise, while bank profits have soared without them having to lift a finger. The big four banks (Barclays, Lloyds, Natwest, and HSBC) made record-breaking profits last year and they’re on track to beat it this year too: reporting £24.1 billion in profits for the first six months of 2025 so far. 

Introducing a 38% levy, in line with the Energy Profits levy on oil and gas companies who have also been profiting from the cost of living crisis, would bring in £11.3 billion from the big four banks alone - enough to cover the welfare u-turn and scrap the two-child benefit cap. As interest rates start to come down, this window of opportunity is closing, so we need the Chancellor to act fast.

Shoulder-to-shoulder (quite literally!) with demonstrators from a host of other economic justice organisations including the Equality Trust, Tax Justice UK, Green New Deal Rising, Make Them Pay, War on Want and the Fairness Foundation, we all came together to call on this Labour government to get out of bed with the banks and tax their windfall profits instead. 

This is about more than a one-off tax. One year in, we need this government to prove whose side they’re really on. Kier Starmer has previously said “those with the broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden”, but cuts to international aid and attempts to slash disability benefits certainly don’t feel like they’re aimed at broad shoulders. 

Between backtracking on promises to reinstate the cap on bankers bonuses, intervening on the side of banks in the car finance scandal, and attempting to push savers’ money into riskier investments on behalf of banks, it’s clear this government would rather prop up the profits of Big Finance than protect public services or improve living standards.

If they want to prove they aren’t in the pocket of big donors or beholden to corporate lobbyists from the City, we need this government to send a clear signal that they intend to deliver the promise of change they made last spring; a windfall tax on banks would be the perfect place to start. 

If you haven’t yet, join over 35,000 people and sign the petition to #TaxTheBanks here, and many thanks to our photographer Milo Chandler for capturing these amazing shots!