Darling announces bank shake-up

Chancellor Alistair Darling says bank sales will only happen "when the time is right"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling came on the Politics Show to explain his plan to break-up the state-owned banks and create three new, privately-owned companies.

But he insisted that he would not be rushed into the sale, stating it could take as long as three to four years:

"I'm not interested in fire sales, I will only sell when the conditions are right and when we get our money back."

Mr Darling also said that boring banks can be good banks.

Thousands of Captain Mannerings?

"I don't think we'll quite go back to having thousands of Captain Mannerings up and down the country but you're dead right, you know, boring banks can actually be quite good banks," he told Jon Sopel.

He also said, "The problem with some of our banks is they got too, far too exciting and too interesting with catastrophic consequences. So the banks we're talking about are essentially retail banks."

Later on the Politics Show, Nigel Farage MEP attacked the actions of the Electoral Commission.

Following a recent court case, the UK Independence Party faces the prospect of forfeiting around a third of a million pounds after accepting an "impermissible donation".

Mr Farage, the party's leader, told the Politics Show:

"I can only say that I think that they [the Electoral Commission] are kicking the smallest boy in the playground, that we are a much easier target than the Liberal Democrats and they pursued us relentlessly."