Tory bank tax plans are 'a risk' to jobs, says Darling

Mr Darling calls Tory plans for a bank tax "misguided"

Tory plans to introduce a bank levy without international support pose "a hell of a risk" to City jobs, Chancellor Alistair Darling has said.

David Cameron has vowed to press ahead with the tax - without support from other countries if necessary - in order to recoup taxpayers' money.

But Mr Darling told the BBC a number of financial institutions could move abroad if the UK acted alone.

The Tories insist there is evidence of an emerging international consensus.

Shadow chief treasury secretary Philip Hammond - who last month said any levy would have to be part of a global deal - defended the change of stance.

"It has become clear that this is now going to happen - the US is going to introduce a banking levy, Sweden has already done so, the consensus is growing - and at some point you have to make a decision to take some leadership," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

"We discussed it internally and decided that the moment had come when we needed to move into a leadership position and say that we will definitely do this in order to give a boost to the global consensus that is building."

But the chancellor called the Tory position "misguided and not thought out", arguing instead that the risk of banks simply moving overseas was too great.

Mr Darling said the banking sector in the UK employs one million people and provided a great deal of revenue for the country.

The Liberal Democrats say banks must pay for taxpayer protection.

The government has spent hundreds of billions of pounds providing support to the banking sector during the downturn and there have been widespread calls to ensure that the taxpayer does not have to bail out the banks in the event of any future crisis.